Double Helix: Twin Destinies
by Andrea13 and PersephoneKore
Summary: Alternate timeline starting after the end of the Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix. Stryfe and Nate are sent through a teleporter, but not to the same place. Stryfe goes to the Askani, Nate to Apocalypse's old library to become the External's ideological
1. Default Chapter

_Disclaimer: This is yet another alternate-timeline fanfic based on Marvel Comics, and no claim on their property is intended. No material profit is involved._

**Double Helix: Twin Destinies  
by Andrea and Persephone  
Chapter 1/4**

//_Time can twist in the strangest fashions._

It isn't often thought of as a major nexus point, that time just after a thirteen-year-old Nathan Dayspring defeated his first Apocalypse, after Slym and Redd were divided soul from body, sent in spirit back home to the twentieth century and in body dissipated into the air, when a boy stunned from having his family ripped away even in the flush of triumph stood proud all the same and told the dead immortal's Prelate he could care for himself. 

Perhaps it should be. Perhaps those who keep track of such things are too combat-oriented.

It is certain that significant differences have sprung from those few minutes. 

The timelines we are accustomed to, with Cable and Stryfe bitter-locked in conflicts that even death never seems to end, share the stream with those where Nate took the unconscious prince along with him and the two lived and died and shared a fate, or fought and killed each other, or lost each other -- and a few very dark ones where Ch'Vayre killed young Dayspring for trying.

And then there is one in which the room where they stood came under attack, and Ch'Vayre thrust both boys toward an old teleport matrix he uncovered, told Nate hastily how to work it, and stood as a defiant barrier to the dog soldiers who charged belatedly to the High Lord's aid.//

"Here, boy. Take Stryfe and get out. Just pick a destination; they're all pre-set and none are used anymore. Nothing to run into, shouldn't be anyone there."

Nate let his unconscious almost-double slump against his shoulder as he silently urged the matrix to hurry UP and warm up and be ready to use. No, not having been used for decades or longer was no excuse; why, why couldn't Apocalypse have bothered with regular maintenance? 

But there were no apparent stalls; perhaps it had always been this slow -- and in truth there were not so very many seconds to wait, but each of them seemed to stretch agonizingly with the sounds of battle and his own whirling thoughts. Had to get away. He could fight -- no, not now, not this many. He wanted Slym and Redd back; why did they have to leave? Where had they gone? 

And thrumming underneath all the rest, as sweat crawled across his back and rolled down his forehead and nose and cheeks, the urge to hurry_... hurry... _

[TRANSPORT MATRIX ACTIVATED]

He shoved dead weight nearly equal to his own through and jumped after him, ears ringing from the roar as an explosion that couldn't damage the sturdy equipment directly nevertheless -- in the instants between Nate's letting go of Stryfe and his own leap -- jostled the controls into the settings for a different preprogrammed destination.

*************

A young Askani novice brought word to Sanctity that a _boy_ -- she spoke the word with all the disdain with which a preteen girl raised among proud women could invest it -- had tumbled from nowhere and now lay unconscious very near. Sanctity stirred herself to go and look at him.

"Well done, Aliya," she told the girl, "in that you found him and let me know. It could have been ill done indeed, though, to leave him at the mercy of the wilds of Ebonshire. This may well be our prophesied Chosen One. You will aid in our care of him now."

Aliya, highly disciplined even at that young age and devoted to Sanctity, kept the temptation to whine her distaste for her assignment quietly behind her own shields and teeth, and simply hoped he would wake soon. There were tasks more boring than to sit waiting for a boy whose face, even unconscious, looked irritatingly arrogant to wake up, but not very many.

**************

Nate tumbled hard to the floor, taking the full brunt of the fall on his left shoulder. Metal wasn't likely to bruise and it always hurt anyway, so what was the harm? Nothing hit him, and no one approached, and he heard no sound but his own breath. That was loud enough, between exertion and adrenaline and the coughs he tried to choke back as dusty fibers from a thin blue carpet tickled his nose and throat.

He stilled the noise he was making, holding his breath; his heart still pounded, pulse beating a throbbing rhythm in chest and throat, ears and wrists. He stood, venturing to fill his lungs again as his head cleared the small cloud of particles his landing had raised. Nothing happened. But for his own heartbeat and breath and the tiniest of sounds he made as he moved, he had found a place utterly silent.

The place was lit, brightly but not painfully, though one less accustomed to the desert sun might have found the brilliance excessive. The temperature of the air was perfectly neutral on his skin. He was indoors, that was for certain, and surrounding him in neat patterns were... books. Though to call some of the items books would, it is true, have been to perpetrate a misnomer. 

There were books, indeed, of every shape and form ever termed such, and most that had been termed something in another language that might be so translated. There were bound books, manuscripts, and scrolls; there were clay tablets here and there, and an entire shelf of the memory-crystals that had come into favor centuries ago, in the peace before Apocalypse's conquest.

He moved slowly, stepping carefully in case of traps and fearing at first even to disturb the too-fine layer of dust that coated everything. He made no sound to disturb the hush; the carpet, thin as it was, swallowed even the faintest sound of his own feet. 

Stryfe was missing. As Nate had still less idea where the young prince was than he had of his own location, however, it seemed unlikely that it was a situation he could remedy.

A massively oversized, thronelike chair gave a hint as to the owner of the installation -- as if anyone but Apocalypse were likely, in these times, to have retained this sort of luxury! Nathan had stumbled all unknowing into the High Lord's old favorite library, a repository of Celestial technology and the accumulated reference sources he'd culled from the millennia he'd lived.

Luckily, Apocalypse had elected to employ servants to supplement the automatic cleaning systems and to keep things in order, and had also elected to make provision for their sustenance. Whole generations had in fact been born, lived, and died in this building, and been discreetly removed. The last set, however, had been dismissed from service a few decades ago, and the library closed off until Apocalypse should find time to revisit it.

Obviously, he hadn't. Nate determined these facts eventually by examining the administrative records after he found the servants' wing and coaxed the dispenser to emit food and drink. 

Once he decided that he wasn't in identifiable danger of either immediate or protracted death, whether by discovery or defense systems or want, the young Dayspring decided that a forgotten library was as perfect a sanctuary as he was like to find -- it had even been left locked from inside -- and surrendered to the curiosity that urged him to examine the books.

Slym and Redd -- he still felt, at the thought, as if there were a hole torn out inside him with only pain to fill it -- had taught him to read and write the most common standard languages, as well as the ancient tongue that called itself "English," and these together gave him an excellent start.

And he soon discovered that the pain of loss and loneliness receded as he lost himself as well in the fascination of the reading, and so he took refuge in that way. 

It came presently to his attention that while he could indeed learn a great deal from almost anything he might pick up, this haphazard method was perhaps not ideal. Deciphering the master index to the library gave him ideas for a systematic plan of self-education, upon which he promptly and fiercely embarked, beginning intelligently enough with the mastery of languages, so that he could read any of the material he chose. 

*************

And time passed, as it does, weeks piling up in orderly fashion into months and months into years. The Askani, under Sanctity's supervision, aided Stryfe's recovery from the abortive "inheritance" of Apocalypse and trained him thoroughly in their doctrine and goals. There were, however, those who evinced some misgivings regarding his behavior and motivations.

"Madame Sanctity, I fear that he is not so devoted to our cause, to the life-mission we have shown him, as we could hope."

"How so? Does he not carry out the things we suggest must be done?"

"He does, but it seems... almost as if it is not the cause he cares for, but -- forgive me -- but only that we will... fuss over him if he fulfills what we expect."

Silence for a time, then the aged, dry voice. "It is of no account. Perhaps he will even be a more useful tool, if he can be induced to act because it is of our will rather than because it is in accordance with a cause he could, after all, come to misinterpret."

The well-concealed beginnings of doubt. "...Yes, Madame Sanctity."

*************

Alone and in hiding, Nathan had in the same years found a mission of his own. His studies had eventually carried him back, and back, and back still further to find a dry account of Apocalypse's own experience with Ship, and of his conviction that humanity must be prepared, must be fit to meet the return of the Celestials, must become _strong_.

Apocalypse, so Nate decided, had had in part the right idea. If these impressions were accurate and such ultra-powerful beings were indeed going to return and evaluate humanity's development, it would certainly seem wise to be ready. 

But he'd gotten the methods wrong. Despite the ability to manipulate it, using the technology he'd found, Apocalypse seemed to have had a relatively weak understanding of biology. It looked to Nate as if the Egyptian had gotten locked in early to an erroneous association between his personal philosophy and developing biological theories. 

His selective breeding programs might have had a chance, for instance, to advance the expression of genetic potential -- but he'd gone about them from entirely the wrong approach, too focused on personal strength and tests in combat and nature, too little caring about overall development. 

For one thing, fighting power wasn't necessarily the most useful type for survival OR the best choice to cultivate in the gene pool. For another, on _top_ of destroying people so wantonly being abhorrent to Nate personally, killing off the viable base stock was stupid and wasteful. 

Non-mutants had good traits too -- he _knew_ -- and while you could predict what kind of offspring some bloodlines would produce, others were erratic enough that you never knew when a power would pop up unexpectedly and with no warning signs in the rest of the family. Sometimes those even bred true. 

For yet a third and final thing, Apocalypse had seemingly abandoned the mission he'd taken on, and Nate could not help a twinge of scorn for that. It hadn't been out of any sense he could find that the methods or cause might be ineffective or unworthy -- Apocalypse had turned his attention to conquest and political power for its own sake, and to the concerns of perpetuating his own life beyond its natural end at the expense of his "hosts."

Apocalypse had cast aside the mantle, and Nathan Dayspring was about to take it up.

*************

After all, Nate reflected as he pored over the records, he had wanted to rebuild dreams and hope, make the world a better place. Perhaps this was how. Perhaps if these Celestials Apocalypse had been expecting had taken this long already, instead of forgetting about them he might have time to salvage where Apocalypse had failed.

Time.

If he could only travel through time, Nate mused for the thirty-seventh time in the four days since the idea had first occurred to him, he would go back and correct some of what in retrospect -- hindsight was 20/20 after all -- appeared to be mistakes in the directions Apocalypse and his estranged servant Sinister (or possibly Essex, the records weren't clear on the preferred designation) had nudged mutant development.

One case of neglect was particularly irksome. If _he_ had the opportunity and were trying to get a being from Earth-human stock that could match the Celestials' apparent level of development and power, he certainly wouldn't have overlooked the unparalleled opportunity that had existed in the twentieth century. 

The ideal solution would have been to keep alive more of the reality-warping mutants that had existed in that era, and try to eliminate that pesky streak of insanity. If it were genetic, perhaps it could be bred or corrected out, and if it were a side-effect of the power, proper training and introduction to the idea might well counter the problem. 

But that didn't seem to be an option. He'd found a promising lead in technologies that had appeared in that very century, though not all of them seemed to belong there, and another set somewhere around the thirtieth century. Unfortunately, both had petered out. He was going through the records a third time, just in case, when a previously-overlooked copy of a twentieth-century document caught his eye.

Or rather, one word in it did.

_Askani._

On second thought, it didn't so much catch his eye as hit him squarely between the eyes, with an extra and entirely unnecessary blow immediately below the breastbone. He picked it up to read, a little wistfully, breath catching in a way he'd kept it from doing for... years? At least months. Maybe years. 

And his breath caught in another way entirely, and his eye gleamed, as he discovered what he should have realized at once when he read twentieth-century references to an organization founded in the 3600s: the Askani had time travel. At least, at some point they'd had time travel. 

And an infant named Nathan, infected with a techno-organic virus and taken by a woman calling herself Askani? He looked down at his metal arm for a moment, then back at the paper, with renewed fury at Apocalypse surging in his breast -- and yet also with a new hope for his own goals spitting cheery sparks of warmth. The Askani should still have an interest in that child, shouldn't they? 

He looked down at the metal arm again, and for the first time in his life smiled at the sight.

*************

Nathan Dayspring knew perhaps more than any other single individual on the planet by the time he chose to emerge from the library. He had studied every branch of knowledge, theoretical and practical, that he could find archived there, and sought out more recent learning on still-operational computer systems. 

He knew how to operate the Celestial technology perhaps better than Apocalypse had, though there were things he would never do with it, and he knew how to operate technologies he had never even seen. He could, with a little luck and correct preparation, have managed to blend in _somewhere_ in almost any time period of human history. 

He knew the locations of any number of caches of Apocalypse's more advanced equipment, what was supposed to be there, when they had last been checked up on, and -- since he'd found the monitoring devices -- which ones had been disturbed since, though whoever had done it took good enough precautions that they could not be identified from the security recordings.

He had kept himself in condition, and had not forgotten all his survival skills, and he had studied his powers -- and learned enough about the techno-organic virus from Apocalypse's files that he gained a grudging regard for some of its possible advantages. Granted, there was still the small matter of its trying to kill him every so often.

He had a plan, and several alternatives for contingencies, and was beginning to seek out the allies he would need to implement his plan.

He had his mission in life.

*************

Stryfe had perhaps the best training available on the planet, a full academic and martial regimen attended to by Mother Sanctity and the rest of the Askani sisterhood. He had the full strength of his powers as a high-range alpha telepath and telekinetic, and the vigor of youth and health, and the benefit of years on end of other people's experience. 

He had learned discipline, and that he was not the center of the universe (a hard lesson, harder still when taught years later than it should have been), and what it was to have more mothers and sisters -- who occasionally interchanged roles -- than he knew what to do with. He was still a tool, but a knowing one now (though in truth he knew not the extent), and the Askani appreciated him.

He had a place, and a role.

He was their Chosen One.

*************

Neither was even remotely prepared to face the other, when the stranger whose approach Stryfe hailed and challenged -- even the Askani'Son took guard duty -- revealed himself to be Nathan Dayspring, come to introduce himself as that long-ago child and claim the aid and allegiance of the Sisterhood.

---------------------------------------------------

"Halt and identify yourself." 


	2. 2

**Double Helix: Twin Destinies  
by Andrea and Persephone  
Chapter 2/4**

"Halt and identify yourself," Stryfe said sharply, stepping into the stranger's line of view. This was unusual. They let people who appeared merely to be lost, or trying to get somewhere else, through the woods of Ebonshire and simply kept them from approaching near enough to see anything. 

The man walking quietly through Stryfe's guard area, however, was neither incautious nor secretive, but appeared to be looking for someone. Possibly them. Stryfe's scan had been ineffective -- he couldn't do any more without being noticed -- and the stranger was actively scanning the woods. The one thought Stryfe _had_ picked up was "Askani."

This was probably not good.

Nate controlled himself against starting in surprise, but did look up sharply -- and then stopped and stared. Not only had he apparently walked practically up to the guard without noticing him, but... this had to be the prince he'd lost in the teleporter. "_Stryfe?_"

No one else could look that much like... well... him, surely.

Stryfe frowned and moved his psimitar slightly in warning.

Nate shook his head and raised a hand. "Forgive me." Deep breath. "I'm Nathan Dayspring. I've come seeking the Askani."

"Nathan Dayspring?" This was Slym Dayspring's son, the boy who'd looked so unnervingly like him? The unnerving resemblance was still there, actually - the other boy's left arm was covered in some metallic armor that apparently extended in some degree on his face as well, but it was a face the young Askani'Son knew very well.

Wait, the metal didn't seem quite so much like armor on closer inspection. More like...it was a part of him. That was odd, but he pushed it aside for now in favor of more pressing concerns. This--intruder somehow knew both who the Askani were and how to find them. And he apparently knew Stryfe himself on sight. There was...something about him that just set Stryfe's teeth on edge, and he raised his psimitar slightly.

"Be on your way. There's no one you seek here."

"Well, I'm very glad to find _you_ again," Nate retorted. Well, mostly. For some reason he was far more irritated than was at all warranted by Stryfe's behavior towards him. Brusque wariness was perfectly appropriate for someone obviously on guard duty....

Wait, why was the former prince on guard duty? 

"I'm not sure why you'd be so glad to find me, nor why you'd be looking for me in the first place. Our last meeting wasn't exactly on the best of terms," Stryfe replied brusquely. "None of that explains why you're here. Explain yourself. Quickly." His eyes narrowed as he shifted the psimitar slightly, warning without words that he would show no hesitation in using it.

"I _did_ explain myself. I'm seeking the Askani. I wasn't looking for you; I wondered what had happened to you, but by the time I'd have had a chance to find out it would probably have been too late to do any good if you weren't well to begin with." Nate's eyes narrowed at the odd spear Stryfe was holding, then went to his face again. "I mean no harm. I want to ask for assistance."

"The Askani don't take in beggars," Stryfe snapped, then cursed himself for revealing too soon that the Askani were nearby and Stryfe was with them. "I'm glad I could satisfy your curiosity about Apocalypse's heir, though I don't know why you'd bother. Now leave."

He really was being more abrupt than they usually were with a young man who had shown no actual aggression towards him, but...

Nate smiled. "Ah, so you do know of them. Is that whom you're guarding?" 

"Since you seem to know so much, you can surely figure that out for yourself. _Leave_."

"I need to speak with them." Nate clamped down on his temper and tilted his head. "You don't remember me, do you." 

"Of course I remember you."

"I don't mean from when we were children."

"When else could we possibly have met? We didn't allow peasants in the Palace or, as I've told you, beggars in the cloisters."

"When Apocalypse tried to take you."

Stryfe's eyes flashed - first with temper, then literally as he gathered power to strike. "What would _you_ know of that?" he hissed angrily.

Nate felt an illogically fierce satisfaction at having made Stryfe show anger first, and smiled tightly. This was foolish; he wanted cooperation, not a fight! "I was there," he said levelly. "My unit killed him before he could finish, while he was vulnerable from trying."

His--the _Daysprings_ had killed Apocalypse? Stryfe floundered over that information for a moment before logic, training, and fierce discipline took over. "A fine story. One that would incline me to trust you, while curiously having no proof behind it. I would have known if Slym Dayspring had led an attack on the Palace."

"You asked, and I answered. You're under no obligation to believe me." Nate smiled again. "Why are you still yourself, then? You were certainly in no condition to notice anyone else's arrival, though apparently you managed to put up some sort of resistance. Redd helped you."

"I am still _myself_," he replied tightly, "because I was stronger than He was. _You_ had nothing to do with it, and whatever hopes you may have of being taken in by the Askani because of this pathetic story or attempting to play off this...odd resemblance to me are in vain. I told you before - _GO_. There's no one you seek here."

Nate snorted. "Those are not why the Askani will listen to me. I had no idea you were here, and rather foolishly allowed you to sidetrack me. I was the child Apocalypse infected with a techno-organic virus in the twentieth century, who was, as records show, rescued and taken to the future by a woman calling herself Askani." 

He raised his left arm, fighting the instinct to hide the disease; he'd been fighting it ever since he reached the forest, but actually pointing it out to this arrogant.... "It nearly killed me when I was thirteen, but I _survived_. And as they thought I was important enough to rescue before, I come to claim their assistance now."

"An even better story." Stryfe's voice dripped with contempt even as he eyed the metal with interest. Techno-organic? How had he managed to keep it in check all these years? "You should consider life as a story-teller, Dayspring, instead of begging to the Askani. However you learned that tale, you forgot one important fact. _I_ am the Askani'Son, Nathan Dayspring. And for the last time," he raised his psimitar, "_you_ are not welcome here!"

"You're the what? Oath, you're stuck on titles, aren't you?" Nate's own eye flared. "I'm no beggar. I know how to take care of myself. I came looking for the Askani because I have reasons to go back in time again, and reasons to believe they're the likeliest route. If I can't persuade them -- you, I should say -- then I'll find another way. Their records should show who I am, though." A thin, sharp smile. "Look me up when you get off duty."

"Consider your efforts here at an end, then, and find another way. The Askani do not take kindly to pretenders."

"That might daunt me if I were pretending."

You claim to be the Chosen One, the baby rescued in the 20th century after being infected with a techno-organic virus by Apocalypse?" 

Nathan refrained from rolling his eyes and said simply, "Yes. I'd say I have decent proof of that." He held up his left arm again and gestured wryly.

Stryfe's mouth tightened. "If that's your claim, you're a pretender, and I suggest you _leave_ here. The Askani are well aware of what happened to that child. Apocalypse never gives up. Though he could be beaten, eventually, _if_ one was strong enough."

Nate ground his teeth as quietly as he could. "I don't give up readily either. Although what I wish to do is what he _did_ try and fail to do in centuries past, and apparently did give up on or forget about --"

Now Stryfe raised the psimitar into a fighting stance. "You want to follow in the footsteps of _Apocalypse_?" he snarled, readying a mind strike. "And you actually think the Askani will HELP you, when our entire existence has been dedicated to _stopping_ him? Bright Lady, are you half-witted or merely insane?"

Nate gestured dismissively. "The Askani didn't come into existence until after he'd forsaken those of his goals that were worthwhile. And I told you, he failed; he wasn't going about it correctly. I intend to --"

The words died in his mouth as he staggered under a furious telepathic assault, pain exploding in his mind worse than the virus had ever done to his body.

#NOTHING Apocalypse did was worthwhile! He used terror and fear and pain to carve out his own world. He used _ME_! You will NOT resurrect his legacy, if I have to kill you where you stand!#

Nate used everything Redd had taught him about shielding and everything he'd read or worked out since, drawing in desperation on the memory of the last time he'd blocked energy from Stryfe -- but Stryfe hadn't been directing it then! The words screamed into his mind made his ears ring, and he barely managed to block the telekinetic energy battering at him, thankfully with poorer focus than the telepathy, without losing control of the virus.

The jolt of alarm and his broken concentration when the virus started to slip seemed likely to be fatal, though, because through the blinding yellow pain he felt his shields start to crack....

Cold. It was cold, and there was pain, and what the FLONQ was happening? He blinked rapidly, trying to raise shields again and fight--something. He was attacking--or was he being attacked? 

Stryfe--Nathan--there were words floating around in his head, but which was _him_ and what was happening and why? 

Stryfe/Nathan flailed out blindly, reaching out in a sea of chaos for the one element of stability, however fragile. A rope -- a link, tying something together, but what? And why was there a sharp, jagged tear in the middle of it? Somehow, he knew that if he could just fix _that_...there could be order in the chaos again.

There was something _wrong_. The tear was wrong. The ends scored everything they touched, leaving slices of pain, and it touched _everything_, touched him -- them -- or was there only one -- 

A scream of pain and terror, real and remembered, ripped across the chaos and made it shudder. Lost, he was losing himself, going to be swallowed up never to _be_ again....

Part of the confusion shivered and drew back a little and knew itself for Nathan again because the sheer horror at what was going on was _other_, spreading through him but coming from association with a memory he didn't share, and was trying to fight him away now. Nathan, he was Nathan Dayspring, and Stryfe had broken into his mind and now seemed to be stuck there -- that was right. Tangled. They had the same kind of psionic energy; of course without preparation they had practically merged.

Nathan -- _Nathan_, he identified himself firmly -- pulled himself together as best he could, struggling to quell his own fear enough to think past it. Stryfe wasn't going to destroy him, not like this. Strength was moving past fear if you felt it; weakness was letting it stop you against reason. 

Stryfe remembered Apocalypse, hated him. Of course. Nathan had hated him too, and Stryfe didn't have the information he did about when Apocalypse had had goals that would be to others' benefit. 

And it was what Apocalypse had done to him, tried to do to him, that produced this violent reaction against their entanglement. Well. Terror had served its purpose; now to cool it, or they'd never get anywhere.

#Shh. Calm. I don't want to obliterate you; if you calm down, we can extricate ourselves.#

#Calm? I'm not a sheep going to slaughter! I can _fight_ this time! You will NOT take me!# There was sheer terror wrapping around that thought, helplessness, flashes of memory, of Apocalypse.

#I don't want to take your body, I'm perfectly happy with my own right now, virus and all. You're the one who started this. If we're going to have any hope of getting back to ourselves again, you need to calm down and help me.# Reassurance, calm, certainty.

Hope wended its way through the terror, helplessness replaced by the ability to DO something, anything. #How?#

Nate identified a part of the mind mixed with his that was definitely not him, and aimed a soothing sort of thought-pat at it. #That's good to start with. Calm. We have to look at this rationally and start sorting out who's who.# 

He realized his tone was a little patronizing when it started annoying _him_. At least, he thought that was him; it was still hard to tell for certain. The violence of Stryfe's reaction seemed excessive, even childish -- even though with another part of his mind Nate was feeling the memory of what Apocalypse had done and why this _did_ induce panic.

Now, was that Stryfe's mind, or his own telepathic experience of Stryfe's memory, and how was he supposed to tell? 

Nate realized at that point that he was also sensing Stryfe's irritation with him and fury at being thought... weak... and worry over his uncertainty of how to extricate them.

#I think we annoy each other more than we ought to,# Nate thought wryly. The torn end of the link -- no, both -- skittered through their thoughts, trailing red-gold glittery cuts from the frayed ends. 

#I think you're annoying enough, with or without a broken link. Though...how such a link was forged, with neither of our knowledge--# And Stryfe could tell that much, through the thought fragments of Nathan's that were interwoven so closely with his own #--or how it was broken, I have no idea.#

He _could_ see now, though, how the link was like a sharp wire cutting through both their thoughts, radiating pain at the breaking point. Small wonder he was on his guard so much quicker, and so ready to attack.

#Glad you noticed,# the part of his mind bearing the "Nathan" label added dryly. #And it's going to take _both_ of us to fix this...The link as well as the merge.#

Fix the link? Did they _want_ to fix the link?

Well, yes, logically they must. It hurt, in both senses; all the imagery of it was of wounds, inflamed and never-healing. 

Just the thing to make their day, the discovery of a psychic hemorrhage. 

#What are we supposed to do about the fact that you don't know how to tell if it's my mind remembering or yours listening in?# Stryfe asked acidly. That particular memory was not one he accessed voluntarily, or usually even _consciously_. Having someone else see it.... He paused. #You really _were_ there.#

Nate would have rolled his eyes if he'd been able to concentrate on anything physical at the moment -- and suddenly he realized he _had_ to, catching his breath in alarm as he checked on the techno-organic virus, slammed telekinetic attention against it, and felt chilled all over as the alarm drained out under relief. Not out of control.

They were both still standing. He wasn't sure if that was amusing or not. 

#Yes, I really was there,# he replied tiredly. #I didn't lie to you, Stryfe. Now. As far as getting ourselves untangled, I'm sure I'll figure out the distinctions as we go along -- we've already managed to identify ourselves as separate again, which is promising -- and if you're Askani I hope a sisterhood of telepaths would have taught you more than Redd had time to teach me. I haven't exactly been sociable the past  
few years.# 

#No, you haven't. You couldn't find a better place to hole up than a _library_?#

Well, obviously Stryfe had managed to sort out a few more memory fragments. #It was defensible, it was well-supplied, and it was hidden. Not to mention filled with knowledge. That's a pretty good combination,# Nathan retorted.

#Hmph.# Stryfe tried to sound bored, but made a note to try to find this place, or at least examine the memories more closely later. That kind of _knowledge_...

#You know, we _are_ still linked...#

#Ah, yes....#A tinge of embarrassment colored Stryfe's thoughts and bled over to Nathan's while Stryfe was still trying to squelch it. #As for that....# Broken ends again, this time in glass rope. 

Nate managed to laugh at himsel-- er, at them both. #It _was_ an excellent place to learn things.# Fascination was no cause for shame. He looked at the break as well. #Do you think we should repair that  
first, or would it be easier to separate ourselves if we don't have... what looks like a permanent psi-link?#

Permanent. That sounded so...final. #I...think we should repair it first. I don't really have any experience in this, but...it seems like it would be easier to work without it cutting through our minds as we're trying to work.# Stryfe paused to reflect a moment, then added, #And we'll probably annoy each other a lot less too.#

#I suppose,# Nate thought back a bit doubtfully. It didn't seem as if Stryfe would be less annoying just for that reason -- except that he'd already identified the reaction as stronger than justified, and a mental wound couldn't be helping. #You're probably right.# A pause. #We can always break the link correctly, after it's... healed, if we don't want it.#

_IF_? #That would undoubtedly work better. So...# Stryfe examined the two ends of the link critically, paying special attention to the broken ends. He forced himself to ignore the increased pain that brought; working through pain wasn't exactly unusual. 

Nate studied it as well, looking over Stryfe's shoulder -- figuratively speaking -- and then cautiously touching the end rooted in his own mind. The image flickered, from a cord with a sharp-snapped end to  
a wound badly closed and sore to the touch. Very similar to the end of the rope, actually. 

He shivered. #Oath. Either one of us could have sneaked into the other's mind if we'd known this was here....# It was a door that just wouldn't close, too. Shattered. You could shield a real psi-link better than that, couldn't you?

#Oath, yes, of course you can.#

#Well Redd didn't really have time to teach me all the finer points of psi-links. Now let's just get this one _fixed_, so we can shield it out until it's healed properly.#

#Then stop wasting time.# Stryfe reached out and took hold of the bond rooted in his own mind and tried to smooth out the sharp edges as best he could. #We're going to have to work together on this, so let's get going.# The sooner it was done, the better.# 

#Right. I gather you know what you're doing?# Nate realized almost at once that this was a stupid question, since memories on the topic that were presumably Stryfe's, as he was fairly certain they weren't his, were floating up all around the link. 

Of course, most of them were theoretical; neither of them had ever seen a link ripped apart this way. Stryfe had -- Nate surprised himself by almost blushing -- actually formed one deliberately before, with a close friend who was rapidly becoming more than that. 

#It was fairly limited, but the experience is valid,# Stryfe said, fighting aside embarassment and the irrational need to hurt Nathan for daring to intrude on his private memories. He was doing the exact same thing, after all, without trying to. Although he was getting to observe a kind of family life he'd never seen, either in the Palace or the Askani cloisters. He thought he rather liked the Daysprings...

Nathan caught that thought as well, and felt startlingly warm towards Stryfe suddenly... even though it made him miss them again until it hurt sharply to breathe. #Okay. So. What do we... do...?# He stopped in surprise, as Stryfe had reached across to his mind while they were talking, through the broken cord, and the ends were starting to meld back together.

#That,# Stryfe replied unnecessarily.

#Oh.# Nate felt vaguely prodded and reached back, not entirely sure if that was correct or completely superfluous until the break quietly vanished. 

The cord -- or point of contact, depending on how he thought of it -- still seemed not to be wholly well; in visual terms, it seemed discolored - but it was changing with surprising speed to clean gold light with a faint tinge of pale blue and white in places, the same color his own psi-energy always seemed to bring to mind. He would have expected it to heal more slowly than that.

It had mostly stopped hurting, too, only lingering soreness left behind for either of them, the relief almost as sharp as the pain had been. 

#Wow...# Stryfe wasn't sure which of them said that, but it summed up the experience for both of them pretty well.

#I...can't believe I never realized that was there,# he observed quietly. Especially not with all the telepathic training he'd done with the Askani; far more than Nate's haphazard self-teaching since Redd...

He felt Nathan flinch away slightly and said softly, #I'm sorry. And...thank you, for helping...before.#

#I was almost sure "Sorry has no meaning" was YOUR memory,# Nate thought back as lightly as he could, then was surprised again. He hadn't thought about laughing much for a long time.... 

When he pulled his attention away from the link for a moment, he realized that re-forging the link, strangely enough, seemed to have clarified who was who instinctively -- to a degree. Their minds had drawn more comfortably apart, the chaos resolved into two moderately confused minds and a remaining tangled border of thoughts and memories.

#And... you're welcome. I mean that. I was worried when I wound up somewhere you obviously weren't, but it wasn't until the next year that I even found how to rig the exits to open.# He added sheepishly, #The year after _that_, I figured out the codes they were supposed to open with.#

#I'd always assumed...I'd managed to get to a portal somehow and get away. I was never very clear on that, and no one could tell me anything beyond I'd just appeared one day. I...never really looked at the memories too closely.#

#Well, you were at best semiconscious for a lot of them. Or was that best?#

Stryfe shrugged mentally. #Nothing could really be _best_, in that situation. But what is, is.#

Nathan snorted. #Oath, you have a talent for stating the obvious!#

#Yes, well, that's because people like to overlook it. We need the reminder.#

Nate thought he remembered something vaguely like that in Nur's library, come to think of it. It had been in an old, fragile journal entry written in hieroglyphics, however, which made his interpretation a bit suspect. #I suppose. It's weak to ignore reality because you can't face it, and it weakens you no matter what the reason.# 

#I haven't _ignored_ anything. _I_ am not the one who has spent half my life hiding in a library. I have a purpose, I have a life, and neither one requires a particularly close examination of those memories so I see no harm in letting them lie.# All right, maybe it wasn't _entirely_ the broken link that caused annoyance...

Nate blinked. #I was rambling from the starting point _you_ stated, thank you very much, not criticizing. And you weren't exactly as bored by that library as you were pretending to be.# 

#It's...interesting. But not all there is to life,# Stryfe said smugly, the memory of the night he'd formed the link with Aliya dancing between them.

#I thought you didn't want to share that one,# Nathan retorted. #And I never claimed it was all there was to life. I had a family, remember?# That was the word Stryfe used to think of it, an older term, but it had more feeling about it than "unit," somehow.

#...I know. Oath, can we just get these memories sorted out and get back where we belong?#

#Right.# Nate reached for the first one that came to mind. #This one seems to be mine...#

#Right.# Stryfe reached out to gather in more. #This is yours. And this. Oath, did you do anything but _read_? That's mine.#

#Exercised. Tried to figure out how everything in the place worked. Tried out some of the things I read about. Um... mostly read.#

Stryfe snorted and continued sifting. #Mine, mine, yours, mine, definitely _not_ mine...# He shook his head and shoved the memory of Slym back at Nathan a little harder than was strictly necessary.

#Oath. I thought you thought you'd like them.# Nate accepted the memory and put it back in place a bit tenderly. #I think we both read this book. Which one was this?# 

#Yours. My chest didn't hurt.#

#...Oh.#

#I'm sure I would've liked them,# Stryfe continued, doling memories back out without too much difficulty. He rather doubted Nathan had any memories of the Askani, after all. #But I never met them. Overall, I'd say you lucked out on foster parents.#

#They disappeared into thin air. ...That one's mine.# Nate sighed and opened his eyes and looked around, wondering when he'd shut them. Probably when Stryfe first hit him. #Should we be standing here  
in the path?# 

#Not many people pass by here, but probably not.# It was almost disorienting to walk, with his mind still absorbed in sorting out what memories properly belonged to him, but he led Nate a little ways back into the shelter of the trees. #Disappearing's better than trying to kill you, at least.#

#I'm not arguing.# He just... missed them. He didn't spend a great deal of time thinking about them, either. They were gone. #It was strange, though.#

#A lot of things are strange.# 

#I'm glad you got somewhere safe.# 

A pause. #You too.#

That was startlingly comforting. He'd barely spoken to anyone for the past several years; most of that had been recent, and if not unfriendly, at least impersonal. Mostly. #Thanks.# Another pause. #I think this one's yours....#

Stryfe looked at it and snorted. It was a lecture from one of the upper Askani. He'd heard it so often he could've recited it in his sleep even if he _didn't_ have a telepath's memory. #You want it?# he offered with a grin.

#Not especially. I'm stuck with remembering having seen the memory now anyway.# Nate grinned back and kept sorting. 

It took some time, and there were certainly still memories they both had and probably some that the person they belonged to didn't have, but the division was at last essentially finished. They could finish the rest through the link, after all, and the duplicated ones weren't significant enough to be problematic. 

Stryfe frowned at the strange sense of reluctance he felt at the prospect of separating, and pulled his mind firmly out of Nathan's, restoring the usual shields and safeguards around it. He had to modify slightly to accommodate the link, but not significantly. "So...now what?" 

Nate blinked and restored the shields between them as well. That, at least, he knew how to do well, even if Stryfe's technique seemed more refined. "Now I'm hoping you'll actually let me through to see the rest of the Askani." 

"You're...not as insane as I thought, but I still doubt you'll convince the Askani to help you with anything Apocalypse started." Stryfe examined the memories he'd seen in Nate's head, his grand plan, and admitted that it wasn't wholly irrational. Still...

"Well, I'll try reasoning with them first, and if that doesn't work, maybe they'll get sufficiently fed up with me to send me to another century just to get rid of me."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Stryfe muttered. "All right, I'll take you, if only to give us a little more time to work out how this flonqing link got started." A thought occurred to him and he added with a wry smile, "I, ah, wouldn't go in claiming to be their long-lost Chosen One, either. It's not exactly the best way to establish your sanity."

"What is this 'Chosen One' business? To start with, I never heard the term before."

"What, you think the Askani showed up every time a baby was struck with an illness in the 20th century? Even if it _was_ caused by Apocalypse?" Stryfe snorted. "They _always_ have a reason. The reason  
they showed up then was because that baby was their Chosen One, who Mother Askani said would have the power to defeat Apocalypse. That's who you're claiming to be. Don't, and you'll be much more believable."

"I had _his_ record of it. There wasn't exactly much explanation. But there _was_ only one incident like that."

Nathan considered adding "And I _did_ defeat Apocalypse", but refrained.

"Well...now you know. Stick to the part about your plans and they might help you out of sheer curiosity." Or sheer annoyance, that was always possible. Nathan seemed to have a talent for standing on nerves and jumping.

"So how do you explain the fact that... this... behaves, in every way I could find to test without killing myself, like the virus he described ought to? If I wasn't that kid, who was?"

"I don't know how you got it, but didn't his journals at least tell you _why_ he did it?" When Nate didn't seem to understand what he was trying to get at, Stryfe continued impatiently, "He was used the T-O as a test, to make sure the body was strong enough to be...the ultimate host-body. Apparently I passed."

"Stryfe. You don't even have the scars."

~Obviously I'm better at it than you are.~ "I was a baby," he said with a shrug. "Apocalypse took me when he attacked the old Askani Cloisters. They were pretty happy when I turned up again. I'm the Askani'Son. If you show up claiming to be their lost Chosen One, they'll laugh at you. I was found a long time ago."

"Slym and Redd were Askani, they said. Late joiners. They said they were there when the old headquarters was slaughtered, had barely gotten there."

"Even Slym Dayspring couldn't have gotten you out of there if you were the one Apocalypse was after that day. Don't flatter yourself."

"I'd think it was flattering _him_. Think Apocalypse could tell us apart if he didn't know there were two? There weren't, in the twentieth century." He wasn't sure where that idea had come from; it seemed inspired. Stryfe seemed... afraid? There was fear on the link, rough with anger. Sudden discovery. "You think I'm trying to take your place."

"You can't. I'm the Askani'Son. And there's only _one_ of me, no matter how alike we may look!"

"I don't _want_ to. Whatever you do with them -- besides guard duty -- it isn't what I want. But Apocalypse only infected one baby. He kept very detailed records, even if a lot of the really old ones are in hieroglyphs."

"Then you were infected some other way! Maybe the Askani saw that and were going to use you as a decoy. I don't know. But Apocalypse only infected one baby, you're right, and _that_ child is the Askani'Son. _ME_." Stryfe growled out the final word fiercely, his eye flashing golden.

Nate laughed derisively. "Some decoy, if Apocalypse took you anyway. Decoy. You have a high opinion of the Sisterhood, don't you?" 

"They're very...pragmatic."

"Obviously."

"Defeating Apocalypse is a goal worth any sacrifice."

"He's dead. Didn't you notice?"

"He wasn't then." 

Nate sighed. "I'm not trying to steal your life."

"I never said you were. You're the one who brought it up in the first place."

"You're the one who's getting all upset at my reaching a perfectly logical conclusion."

"Oh, and how would YOU feel if I'd suddenly presented myself to the Daysprings and announced the _logical_ conclusion that I was really you!"

~There, I was right.~ "Really surprised? It'd probably have been a lot easier for them to deal with a kid who wasn't diseased, actually," Nate said as evenly as he could. The last words had more of an edge than he'd wished, though. "I wasn't theirs biologically anyway. They said I'd been abandoned; they took me in. Didn't say it was at the Askani Cloisters, certainly -- then again, officially they weren't mutants, either."

"They both were? Redd hid it well," Stryfe observed absently. "They could've found you anywhere. You could've been _infected_ anywhere. That doesn't make you the Askani'Son."

"Stryfe, this isn't exactly a normal illness."

"That's beside the point." It wasn't.

"Wait. What do you mean, Redd hid it well?"

"She hid it well. I never knew she was a mutant." He reflected over Nathan's memories briefly. "Well, if she was a telepath, I suppose that would be a little easier to hide than optic blasts."

Nate nearly spluttered. "You weren't supposed to. They _both_ hid it, or we wouldn't have been living like flatscans -- or low-levels; they were both flonqing powerful! You were in the _palace_; you weren't even supposed to notice we existed!"

"Then Slym shouldn't have been leading rebels against my army, should he? Believe me, I noticed _that_." Stryfe's voice was almost reverent.

"He what?" Nate found he _had_ seen those memories of Stryfe's, though they weren't among those he'd gotten to examine in detail. What little he had seen well enough to recall clearly showed a side of Slym he'd never seen. "I...."

"What? You knew they were with the rebels. Didn't you know Slym commanded?" He found that _very_ hard to believe. "He beat me enough times, I decided it was better to learn from him." And try to find out who he was, with an interest bordering on obsession.

"He probably thought it was safer for me not to know," Nate replied a bit numbly. "I never thought...."

Slym Dayspring's own _son_ didn't know? Oath.... "I...guess he did. I don't know. I never got to actually talk to him." Although that had been one of his most cherished dreams. "We just fought each other."

"At least you knew he fought. Oath. And you knew about Redd? Me?" Nate stared at him. "You knew who one of the best rebel leaders was and you didn't have us killed?"

"Not _one_ of the best," Stryfe snapped.

Nate was still staring at him.

"I obviously didn't have you killed. Oath. It would've been hard to learn from him if I'd had him killed, after all."

"Well, I can _see_ you didn't, but flonq...." 

"You're welcome," Stryfe added dryly.

Nathan glared at him. "He never told me and he let gate-guards push him around so _they_ wouldn't get suspicious. Excuse me for being surprised that the flonqing Heir of Apocalypse figured it out and we were still breathing the next day."

Stryfe smiled a little, perversely pleased by Nathan's reaction. "Maybe you don't know everything you thought you did."

Nate fought down the surprise and anger. It was idiotic to feel fear over something that could have happened in the past and hadn't, after all. "Probably not," he grated. "What were you doing, looking for a better father than Apocalypse?"

That stung more than it should have, given the daydreams Stryfe had built up around Slym Dayspring, and only the knowledge that Nathan was _trying_ to spark a reaction let him keep his cool. "I hardly needed to go to so much effort for _that_. Better fathers than Apocalypse weren't hard to find, even in Court."

Nate took a mental step back, that one day in the palace flickering in his mind, and acknowledged that he had deliberately tried to hurt his brother and currently the only tentative link he'd found to the Askani -- who could probably kill him if he tried telekinesis instead of a telepathic attack, maybe even the latter now, given his advantages in training. And no virus. Wait a minute. Brother? 

Where had that come from?

There hadn't been any record of a second child, though they were obviously the same age -- or close; he thought Stryfe was a bit younger, though he'd been better nourished as a child so it wasn't as obvious as it could have been -- and very similar in both appearance and powers. That didn't make them brothers... but why _did_ they have a psilink?

He pushed the thought aside with a little irritation. This was not a productive line of thought at the moment. Better fathers than Apocalypse? "I imagine so."

Stryfe snorted. "You grew up with Slym Dayspring; you have no idea."

"That doesn't mean I can't imagine that being better than Apocalypse at it wouldn't be difficult. Especially after the involuntary deluge of _your_ memories..."

Stryfe tried not to wince at the reminder that his memories had been involuntarily shared with this--stranger, one he knew nothing about. Well, other than everything he'd learned from being immersed in _Nathan's_ memories, which was telling him against his logical judgment that he could trust this man.

"You didn't come here to talk about _either_ of our foster fathers," he pointed out, trying to regain control of the conversation. "I agreed to take you to the Askani, and I will. I'm simply telling you, for your own good and for the sake of your mission, don't bother claiming to be the Chosen One. It won't help you. _I_ might, if you convince me."

"Nathan Christopher Charles Summers," Nathan murmured.

"What?"

"That was the kid's name in the twentieth century."

"That means _nothing_," Stryfe snapped quickly, almost desperately. _He_ was Nathan Summers, the Chosen One, the Askani'Son, and no stranger would change that, no matter how alike they looked! "If the Daysprings were Askani, they could have...named you after me."

Nate gave him a long look. It still seemed obvious to him that _he_ was the child in question; the fact that the Askani had accepted someone who resembled him that much, but lacked the virus, only supported his idea. Unless Stryfe had really defeated it... but why would there have been a second boy infected? Still, that wasn't what mattered.

"Very well. I won't bring it up." Stryfe looked at him in surprise. Nathan shrugged. "It's obviously important to you. I don't care, unless it helps me get to a time-travel device. If I don't need to mention it, I won't."

Stryfe privately resolved to use every argument _he_ could think of to convince Madame Sanctity to grant Nathan's request. If they let him go off time-traveling, he wouldn't hang around _here_ and make dangerous assertions. "Good."

"Why does it matter so much anyway? They already know _you_; it's not like they'd try to get rid of you and have me do... whatever it is you're supposed to be doing... in your place." A pause. "At least I certainly _hope_ not...."

Quickly. "Of course they wouldn't." A little too quickly...

"You're nervous."

"I'm not nervous." That was said with the full High Prince hauteur he hadn't used since his first month with the Askani, since it generally inspired lectures (and occasionally demonstrations) on how he _wasn't_ the center of the universe.

Nate nudged the link between them. "You are. I don't even really need this to tell, but it's not blocked _that_ well. I'm sure you can tell more of what I'm feeling than I might appreciate, too." Not that he was feeling anything to be bothered by; he was fairly confident... except of course for a twinge of envy for Stryfe's _not_ having to fight the virus all the time... and oath, he missed Slym and Redd.... 

Annoyed, he wrenched his thoughts back into more goal-oriented directions. He had things to do.

"I have things to do too, and you've been distracting me long enough. I'm on duty. If you want an escort and an introduction, you can just wait until my relief shows up."

"That depends. Will you let me through _without_ an escort?"

Stryfe raised an eyebrow. He should say no. He didn't want to risk Nathan spouting off his story without him there to guard against those dangerous "logical conclusions".

But...there was still that niggling thought inside him insisting that Nathan could be _trusted_, and he just didn't know what to make of it.

"I'll let you past. I'm hardly the only layer of sentries, though, and frankly you'll have better luck if you have me beside you to verify your story. Unless you really want half the Sisters in the Cloisters digging through your head."

"Sounds lovely. No, thank you. It's fairly clear my shielding needs work." 

Stryfe glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. 

Nathan returned the look. "Well, you broke it."

He had been fairly confident, previously; he still was confident that he could handle most of the sentries -- politely, preferably. On the other hand, this had been the first real test of his shields for years, even if he'd always done fairly well according to Redd. He'd blocked the transfer between Stryfe and Apocalypse before -- but again, that wasn't a directed attack against him. Just a... flow. 

Or a torrent. Still... it was not the same as a skilled attack, and it was clear his resistance needed work. 

Stryfe returned his attention to his duties -- mostly. He looked at Nathan sidelong, though. It hadn't exactly been _easy_.

Nathan sat down on a fallen log that had mostly grown over with moss and started rifling through his pack, since he was apparently going to be here for a while. Speaking of which..."So how long until this replacement of yours shows up? And if you're their Chosen One, why are you stuck on sentry duty?"

"A few hours. My shift only started recently. And we all have our duties."

A few hours? He might as well get a nap in. Well, at least he'd have plenty of time to perfect his speech for the Askani. His promise to Stryfe would require changing a few details...

"Bet that went over real well."

Stryfe eyed him again, half-frowning. "What did?"

Nate looked up and smiled lazily. "Apocalypse's prince and soul-heir on guard duty."

"They didn't exactly throw me into guard duty straight away." First it had been cleaning, the messiest cleaning jobs they could find, to deal with his pride. "I wasn't exactly in the best of shape when I arrived, you might recall." Since he couldn't even _remember_ Nathan having been there...

~What, they'd humbled you until guard duty was a step up?~ Yes, he could perfect his speech for the Askani, or he could spend the time alienating the only one he'd actually met so far. Brilliant. Instead, he said, "I got that idea. Why do you think I was worried?"

"Well, you obviously didn't let it interfere with finding a purpose in life."

"Was I supposed to?"

"Find a purpose in life? Yes. It helps. Worry about me? I don't see why you'd bother."

"I meant, 'Was I supposed to let worrying about you interfere with finding a purpose in life,' actually. Why worry? Because I had no idea where you'd wound up or if anyone would find you, and if so what they'd do with you."

"Oh. No, you weren't. And you did your duty by stopping Apocalypse. Even getting me out of the palace was a bonus. No one could fault you for not doing anything beyond that."

"I could, if I'd been able to do better."

Stryfe shrugged. "What is, is."

Nathan blinked at him. "I have a feeling that could get _really_ annoying after a while..."

"It's true," Stryfe retorted, rather nettled.

"Well, yes, but it has the irritating quality of being a potential response to practically anything."

"What good is a philosophy if it's not versatile?"

"It results in more varied conversation if you don't quote the same tenets all the time!"

"I don't think you've known me long enough to know how varied my conversation is," Stryfe replied, involuntarily amused. "And I'm not really known for my conversation on sentry duty. I have other things to think about. Wait until we're back at the Cloisters." 

"Point conceded, and I translate that as 'Shut up and let me work,'" Nate returned with a grin. He moved to a comfortable crouch on the log and balanced there, closing his eyes. He'd taught himself to sleep that way when he was six, rather to Slym and Redd's amusement. At the moment, however, he planned to think.

Stryfe's reaction to his arrival had somewhat surprised him, but since he'd given his word now not to mention his suspected identity, he'd have to change a significant part of his introduction to the Askani. Although...well, he and Stryfe _did_ look an awful lot alike, and he couldn't exactly hide the T-O. If the Sisters had any sort of intelligence, they'd probably figure things out for themselves.

What that meant for Stryfe, he wasn't sure, but at least Nathan wouldn't be revealing anything directly...  
Instead of his planned speech revisions, though, his thoughts were circling more and more on his random thought of Stryfe as "brother". What _was_ their relationship? People didn't tend to look this much alike by accident, especially not with the mental resonance they had. And, well, there was the link. All of it pointed to some kind of connection between them, a strong one. But what?

Stryfe found himself wondering some of the same things without knowing it. There was a traitorous thought, not in the back of his mind but tucked into the side somewhere it could nag at him more comfortably, that kept suggesting perhaps Nathan WAS who he thought he was. Or that the Askani would think he was. Who would he be then? Would the Askani want Nathan instead? But Nathan didn't want _them_....

And oh, Bright Lady, why did he have this horrible inclination now to _like_ the man? 

They annoyed one another; Nathan was arrogant and his idea of taking up some old crusade of Apocalypse's was... disturbingly persuasive, actually. Stryfe was reluctantly coming to the conclusion that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing to try, especially since part of the plan seemed to involve heading off some of Apocalypse's more problematic activities starting in the twentieth century, before they happened.

The idea of getting the Askani to help with one of Apocalypse's old crusades, on the other hand, was obviously a bit mad.

"Stryfe? I know you're busy, but...I'm trying to figure out exactly what to say to the Askani, since you don't want me claiming their help as Nathan Summers. I _know_ I have a good plan, but do you think it will throw them off entirely if I tell them it's Apocalypse's originally?"

"I think you're out of your mind."

"That is not what I asked."

"It's still true."

"_Stryfe_." Nathan sighed in exasperation. "You've _seen_ my memories. You know it's a good plan, I can tell. I just need their help, and I'm trying to think of the best way to get it. Without breaking my promise to you."

Stryfe stared at the path. "I'm not as convinced of its merits as you seem to think I am. I would, however, also recommend against telling them you've essentially taken Apocalypse's diaries as a mentor."

"You _should_ be convinced. It's a good plan." Nathan grumbled and kicked at the ground. "I was afraid of that, though. I've got a little revising to do, I guess."

"You _can't_ have missed the fact that they were formed to oppose him."

"That was after he'd completely abandoned doing anything _helpful_ and decided world conquest was more fun!"

"He was still _Apocalypse_. I'm having a little trouble believing that he _ever_ had plans of doing anything helpful. He was a master of twisting the truth around to suit him. Are you sure you didn't just read what he wanted you to read?"

"Stryfe, I don't think he was expecting anybody but himself to read some of the things in that library at all. Ever. Unless the librarians did, and according to the records none of them but the last generation ever left. They lived there."

"He was prepared for all eventualities."

"He wasn't omnipotent, for heaven's sake!"

Stryfe supposed, after all, that was true.... "You use the strangest idioms sometimes," he muttered.

"Slym and Redd spoke really antiquated languages sometimes. Almost got in trouble once or twice."

Stryfe shook his head. "Strange." Still, if they'd been a part of the Askani--which he really should research, because he'd never come across any indications of that--they might have studied old languages at the Cloisters. Being time-travelers necessitated good knowledge of ancient languages. But Nathan said they hadn't been at the Cloisters very long before the first massacre...

"They were always strange." Nate sighed. "Anyway, unless he made up the whole idea of these 'Celestials' or reached entirely the wrong conclusion about them, he _did_ have a point. I already told you he went about it wrong, or I wouldn't be deciding in hindsight that I need to fix it."

"Stick with the library and the Celestials, if you can. Don't mention Apocalypse's journals, or his original plan." Although Stryfe certainly knew from experience how difficult it was to even bend the truth in front of Madame Sanctity! "Don't mention Apocalypse unless you absolutely _have_ to, and they might help you. Or they might not. The Askani Sisterhood has its own goals."

Nate snorted. "Who else would HAVE a library like that anymore? Some things are obvious." He sighed. "Besides, the other source I have -- I don't know if you saw these memories or not -- is an electronic consciousness calling itself Professor that lives in the T-O. It says it started out as a Celestial ship."

"Well obviously it was Apocalypse's library, but that doesn't mean you had to have gotten the _idea_ from him," Stryfe began impatiently before the rest of Nathan's words registered. He stopped and stared. "You have an artificial intelligence from the Celestials? And you just _now_ saw fit to mention this?"

"...Yes."

"How much contact do you have with it? What sorts of things has it told you?"

"He -- It first... spoke up to give me advice on dealing with the virus," Nate explained, a bit uncomfortably. "It only explained what it was very reluctantly -- and I only have its word for it, of course, but it checked out with everything else I could find to compare its story with. It didn't help translate, but it probably saw some of the records beforehand, yes. It says -- it was the Celestial Ship Apocalypse found." 

Stryfe was looking at him again.

"It also claims it helped X-Factor take it away from him, was destroyed physically about the time Apocalypse infected Nathan Summers, and transferred its consciousness into that. To help him."

To accept that...would basically mean accepting that Nathan Dayspring and Nathan Summers were one and the same, that Nathan was the true Askani'Son, and Stryfe's entire life for the past several years had been based around a lie. Stryfe wasn't very inclined to accept that interpretation, so instead he snorted derisively. "Riiiight."

"Yes, well, that's why I didn't bring it up before. The word of an intangible artificial intelligence that I can't verify is telling the truth and you can't verify I'm not imagining did not seem likely to be particularly convincing." A pause. "It's very offended right now. I suppose you _could_ verify its existence, come to think of it."

Yes, he probably could...but if he _did_, and there _was_ such an intelligence, it would mean Nathan was telling the truth... "I have better things to do than waste my time disproving the mad ravings of a seriously disturbed person," Stryfe snapped, hefting his psimitar again and whirling around. "I'm on duty. Stop trying to distract me."

Nathan laughed. "I'm no more insane than you are, and you know it from our little meeting of the minds earlier."

"Seriously disturbed," Stryfe repeated through gritted teeth.

"So are you, clearly."

Stryfe barely suppressed a growl and repeated to himself a few times that Nathan was at least fairly trustworthy and he thought he was even starting to like him. Being borderline insane and trying to take Stryfe's place were incidental. "Don't bring up the AI. Stick to the library. Make it sound like you came up with the idea on your own. You might have a chance. Now be QUIET and let me do my duty in peace!"

Nate weighed his options and fell silent, rehearsing his explanations again. He was not under the illusion that Stryfe's advice against using half of his evidence and arguments was free of ulterior motives. Not that this necessarily made it either good or bad. 

He couldn't help being frustrated, though, that Stryfe seemed to be operating from an impression and a fear that was frankly _wrong_. Nathan could see where Stryfe was getting the idea, of course, but he was more than welcome to the role of Askani'Son, Chosen One, or whatever else they chose to call him. Nate had his own goals. Besides, it would be absurd to think the Askani would discard someone they'd been working and training with for years!

He sighed, deeply but noiselessly. He was horribly frustrated with Stryfe, but painfully sympathetic as well. The nonsensical insecurity -- at least he assumed it was nonsensical; maybe he should take a look at a few more of the memories he'd picked up -- felt very similar to Nate's own fears that Slym and Redd might have preferred a healthy child, even if they had taken up with him for some reason.

He touched the link again, gently. Why was it there? And could he use it to reassure Stryfe somehow that he didn't want to harm or displace him?

Stryfe felt the touch on the link and frowned, hardening his shields as much as he could without hurting the still-healing link. #I've already agreed to take you to the Askani and help you plead your case. What more do you _want_ from me, Nathan?#

#I don't know,# Nathan replied honestly, responding to the faintly plaintive note of Stryfe's question. #But we're here, together, and linked. And in more ways that just the psychic link, I mean. That has to _mean_ something, doesn't it? Don't you want to find out what?#

#No.# Not entirely true. Stryfe wished desperately that Nathan had never turned up at all, but he had the perverse feeling he'd miss him if he were gone. #It doesn't have to mean anything.#

It didn't have to mean anything except that his past was in doubt, and this stranger was someone he'd once been close enough to link to. It didn't have to mean anything except that among all the sisters, now he had what appeared to be a brother of some sort whose return -- because they _had_ to have been together once before -- felt right in a way he didn't understand at all. 

#I do know what I don't want from you,# Nate persisted softly. #I don't want you thinking of me as an enemy. I didn't come here as one. I didn't come here as a rival, either. There's no reason for me to be a threat.#

#No _reason_ except that in an _hour_ you've managed to throw into doubt everything I've learned in the _years_ since Apocalypse!# The years when he'd _had_ to have an anchor, with everything he'd once believed in torn to shreds. And now it was happening _again_...

Nate opened his eyes again and shifted his balance on the log, unsettled by the unintentionally frantic tone of the thought, and reached through the link in the hope of offering comfort. He didn't think he'd felt especially sympathetic since he was thirteen.... Not that there had been anyone around to sympathize with for most of that time. #It can't be everything. Everyone's wrong sometimes, but even if I'm right, it doesn't change who you are.#

#You don't have any idea. You've always been Nathan Dayspring. For the first half of my life, I was supposed to be the High Prince of Apocalypse, and I was nothing more than a sacrificial lamb in prince's clothing. For the second half of my life, I've been the Askani'Son. Now YOU want to take that away, and you don't even CARE about it!#

#You're still _you_, no matter what anyone calls you,# Nate insisted. The thought occurred to him that Stryfe seemed to attract absurd titles, but he stuffed it back away from the link. Not the time. #They don't define you.#

#And so speaks the man who's spent half HIS life alone in a flonqing library. When you figure out how the world actually works, let me know.#

#Well, at least I'm not terrified the books are going to decide they want somebody else....#

#I am NOT terrified!# He was moderately concerned, barely nervous really, with a mild side dose of utter hysteria. 

#Right. Calm down.# Nate sighed and cautiously offered the kind of comforting telepathic embrace Redd had given him once in a while when they were too far apart to touch, but a little psionic energy would go unnoticed.

Stryfe held back stiffly. #Stop it. Leave me alone. Oath, I wish you'd flonqing well never shown up!#

#Is this where I should say "what is, is"?#

#No!#

Nate withdrew, a little disappointed but not terribly surprised. #I told you it was annoying. See, I'd make a lousy Askani'Son anyway.#

#You don't get to decide if you _want_ to be the Askani'Son. You just are.#

#I'm not. That's the thing.#

#You are if you're who you claim to be.#

#Then they have a flonqing stupid way of picking it, if it's supposed to be an important role....#

Stryfe actually chuckled slightly. #Well, I always thought so, but it seemed to favor me so I didn't really mind...#

That was better. Nate shut his eyes again. #Dare I ask what it is you're supposed to _do_? I don't even know. Or are you allowed to tell outsiders?#

Stryfe laughed, sounding more genuinely amused than just this side of hysterical. "You _don't_ know anything about us, do you? Don't you even know what Askani _means_?"

Nate blinked, then ran back over what he'd actually said and grinned slowly. "...Outsider. I wasn't thinking about that."

"Obviously." Stryfe grinned back.

Nate was surprised to see the grin, but very relieved, even though he knew Stryfe wasn't convinced yet. But...it was a start. "So...if you can tell me, what _do_ the Askani do?"

"You're coming to 'claim' their help and don't know _anything_?" To be fair, most activities were covert, but if the Dayspring adults had claimed to be remnant members, if recent ones, of the Clan, it seemed Nate should have some ideas.

"I know they opposed Apocalypse. I knew Slym and Redd were subversives, but we established before that they obviously weren't telling me everything. I've stopped to listen to a few of the public services, but given the Sisterhood seems to require psionics, even if the Clan didn't, and there's been time travel involved... I'm thinking there has to be more than what Apocalpyse had in records."

Stryfe sighed and scanned. No one but them anywhere near, and electronic surveillance was carefully avoided. "They were formed to resist Apocalypse's conquests and purgings of the population. Eugenics programs. Currently... we're trying to influence the power struggles to avoid having his philosophies and supporters be the ones to win out now he's gone. Destabilize New Canaan, at the moment."

"Oh." Nathan considered this. "Good idea. Sounds like fun, but I'd prefer to leave it to you, all the same."

"Thank you so much."

"Well, it seems pretty important to _you_, after all, and I've got this whole 'time travel and redirect the path of mankind' thing to keep me busy." Nate grinned at his somehow-but-not-quite brother disarmingly.

"Right." ~But what do I do if the Askani won't let you leave it to me?~

Nathan frowned. "Are the Askani _that_ bad?" Because he'd been thinking of them as sort of a larger group of Redd and Slyms...

Stryfe whirled on him, instantly defensive. "What's that supposed to mean?" 

"Just... the way you think of them. As if they'd throw you away, and all the ties you've made and -- since you did say they were pragmatic -- all the time and training they've already invested in you, just because they might decide you weren't born when they thought you were, or something?"

"It was Mother Askani's prophecy," Stryfe said tightly, his hands clenching his psimitar almost painfully. "The Chosen One, the child of the First Ones. The one who would destroy Apocalypse. Which you apparently already managed to do, instead of going like some trusting little sheep to the slaughterhouse. The prophecy is about the Chosen One! Not some--I don't even know _what_ I am anymore."

"Stryfe...." Nate sighed. He'd had no idea Stryfe was here or even of the existence of an "Askani'Son"; it had never occurred to him that he'd be changing someone's life, not this soon. Of course his entire plan hinged on that, and there were surely to be people who would have been better off without his interference.... He just hadn't been expecting it _now_. Especially not someone he knew. 

Maybe it was better to remember that it was always personal.

He didn't even feel triumphant that Stryfe apparently believed him now.

"Go see the Askani, Nathan," Stryfe said resignedly. "I'm sure they'll welcome you with open arms. You might even get your time machine. But don't be surprised when you find out that the Askani'Son still has to answer to the Askani."

"I'm waiting for you, remember?"

"There's no reason to. Go. Declare yourself as the Chosen One and walk through the main gates. It doesn't matter anymore."

"Already promised not to, not to mention we established I don't want the role and you do." 

"I release you from your promise. It's not like Madame Sanctity wouldn't have figured it out quickly enough anyway. And I believe I mentioned that it's not a role you can _choose_ to accept or decline. You're Nathan Summers, you're the Askani'Son. What you or I want doesn't--matter." His throat was suddenly tight, but Stryfe ignored it. "As you said, I've trained here, and the Askani are pragmatic. I'll probably be able to stay on as a...sold

Nathan swore at some length. "I didn't come here to take your life away! I can't exactly do both, either. I'm not _staying_. I'm not even planning to stay in this _century_."

"I know you didn't come here to steal my life," Stryfe said quietly. He'd seen too much of Nathan's mind to believe otherwise. It didn't change things, though. "You'll work something out. It's what you're supposed to do, after all, Askani'Son."

"They'd have to be idiots to try to get rid of you for somebody who doesn't even buy into their entire premise...."

"It's the Mother Askani's prophecy! Oath, how difficult is a prophecy for you to understand? You're the flonqing Askani'Son, get USED to it!"

"Who was the Mother Askani and why should I believe she knew anything?"

"She was--Mother Askani. She founded the order."

Nate opened his mouth, reminded himself to be polite, and closed it again to think how. After a moment he started again. "Yes, I had gathered that much. I gathered she founded the Clan as well as the Sisterhood." 

And was so successful in annoying Apocalypse that the Clan was now essentially nonexistent and the Sisterhood was rebuilding from a shadow of what it once was, but he'd picked that up from Stryfe's mind. 

"There are Founders for most of the Clans, and I'm sure most of them were worthy of respect. What I don't understand is why the Mother Askani should be able to issue prophecies that are supposed to affect my life, or why I should believe them. Was she a seer-chronovariant? Supposed to be in touch with some other being?" He paused. "Don't glare at me. I'm asking. I might acknowledge some obligation in return for saving my life, but I'd think to fulfill that I'd do better to try something _useful_, not upset a perfectly functional situation on account of a prophecy when I have no idea why I'm supposed to believe she was a prophetess."

"It isn't _your_ place to question the Mother Askani. She was a great woman. She founded the Order out of NOTHING, and accomplished more than Apocalypse knew. She prepared for the arrival of the Chosen One."

"In other words, you don't know?"

Stryfe scowled at him. Nate sensed this, but didn't see it, since he still had his eyes shut. "She was a chronovariant and a time-traveler and for much of her life the avatar of the Phoenix. But she died before I came here, after lying in a coma for almost twelve years after the attack on the old Cloisters."

Interesting. Nate remembered another question he'd had. "Did you see her?"

"See her body? Yes. They hadn't burned it yet." 

"Is she really the one depicted in the holograms for the services? The woman in robes, with scars on her face as if... as if a spider plant had grabbed her around the back of the head, but she got away?" Spider plants had apparently been innocuous once, he'd learned, but now their leaves could secrete digestive fluids and they actively trapped for extra nitrogen. A human was too large a prey for most of them, of course.

"Yes, that was really her. Did you think it was some imposter? I don't know how she got the scars, but I doubt it was from a _spider plant_." Stryfe's voice was heavy with scorn.

"Well, they never _said_ who it was supposed to be; I didn't assume she necessarily recorded everything herself."

"Oh." Stryfe reminded himself not to be so defensive about everything. And reminded himself that even if he wasn't...who he thought he was, he was still an Askani. And that meant...he owed his loyalty to the Askani'Son. He tried not to grind his teeth at the thought. "Yes, that was Mother Askani."

"She did speak well. They're even set up to be interactive. It's embarrassing how many challenges she actually anticipated." Of course, he couldn't always tell if he'd been run off because he'd asked something there wasn't an answer recorded for or because the technicians got tired of him....

"She was very wise," Stryfe said tightly. "I wish I could have spoken to her myself." Because surely _she_ would know who he really was...

"I'm sure it would've been helpful." You did have to acquire a certain amount of wisdom to survive to an advanced age, generally, so Nate was prepared to acknowledge that while keeping his reservations about her philosophy and goals -- and the accuracy of her predictions -- for the moment.

~Does he ever open his eyes?~ Stryfe wondered, eyeing Nathan sideways. "Are you meditating or something?" he asked at last.

"Not exactly. Just concentrating on other senses. And thinking."

Stryfe bit back a comment, reminding himself that he was supposed to be respectful. Oath. "Ah. Having any luck?"

"Well, you've only tried to kill me once, so I suppose so."

"If I'd been trying to kill you, you'd be dead," Stryfe replied coolly. "And I _meant_ were you having any luck... thinking?" ~I realize it must be difficult.~ He bit back that comment with difficulty.

~I'm not that easy to kill.~ "Some. And maybe so. It would have made more sense to attack telekinetically in that case." #I heard that.#

"If my only goal was to kill you, yes. I was also interested in your plans regarding Apocalypse, so I thought a telepathic assault would be more effective. I don't think either of us could have anticipated the effects of the link. And..." He paused, his jaw twitching. "I meant no disrespect. Askani'Son."

Nathan opened his eyes and stared at Stryfe. "You have to be kidding me."

"I thought a telepathic attack made more sense given my goals. Were _you_ anticipating the link?"

"No, and that's not what I meant. And you know it."

"I'm still a part of the Askani." ~Unless you plan on taking that away too.~ Stryfe ground his teeth, barely getting out the words through a tightly clenched jaw. "That means I owe -- my loyalty and my respect to the Askani'Son. I didn't mean to insult you." ~Even if you deserve it for flonqing around in people's lives and never stopping to consider what effect it will have!~

"You don't owe me anything. In case you missed this part somehow, I hadn't found _any_ mention of an 'Askani'Son'; I didn't even know you were here. I'm _not staying_, or did you miss that too? If I can't get to the twentieth century from here, I'll go try to find another way. I'll build my own flonqing Tinex if I have to." Nathan stood up, furious for no reason he could define clearly. "Apparently that should have been my _first_ choice."

"I hadn't heard anything about any Askani'Son either before I came here, and I certainly didn't show up expecting to be taken in because of it. That doesn't _matter_. You ARE the Askani'Son, Nathan. You don't have a choice. It's who you ARE." ~Who I thought I was.~ "And even if you leave, you'll STILL be the Askani'Son and I'll STILL be a fraud. Nothing can CHANGE that now! Oath, don't LEAVE."

"Why the flonq not? This has to be one of the most idiotic situations...."

"I certainly won't argue with that," Stryfe replied with a choked half-laugh.

"Listen. I came here to ask for help, I admit that. I wasn't, as you suggested earlier, begging. I assumed that they might well want me to do something in return. If it was something that didn't seem as if I could finish it and then leave, I would've had to find some other option. That I could deal with." Nate sighed. "For some strange reason, however, it really never occurred to me that they might want me to take over a job I don't want to do and have no idea how to do from someone who does want it and has been training for it for the past ten years!"

"You're the _Chosen One_. Why can't you understand that it doesn't matter WHAT I flonqing want?!"

"What happened to pragmatic? This is _stupid_."

"I agree whole-heartedly." Stryfe cursed and kicked at the ground. "They _are_ pragmatic. They won't just...throw me out with the refuse. I told you they'll probably let me stay on as a soldier, possibly even a commander. I've trained for that. But you've driven home quite well that I'm NOT the Chosen One."

"Probably let you? I thought a Clan was supposed to take care of its own, never mind identity crises -- or does the Sisterhood not work that way?" 

"I have no idea what they'll actually do, because this situation hasn't exactly occurred before!"

"Leaving aside for the moment the fact that I'm still not particularly clear on what the Chosen One is supposed to do, and the fact that I think it's incredibly stupid to pick someone for an important task as an infant regardless of what happens to them in the interim, and the fact that unless it involves heading back in time several centuries to change the course of history -- or make a new course -- I have no intention of doing what you apparently think they want me to... after ten years you _shouldn't_ have to be worried about what they'll do with you!"

"If I'm reading your memories right, you were apparently wondering the same thing after _twelve_ years with the Daysprings, so don't act so superior!"

Nate stiffened and had to take a minute before he could answer, first because he was afraid he would shout and then because his voice wouldn't work. "I never knew why they would have wanted me in the first place," he finally said in a low tone. "I knew they were better than to... just get rid of me, though; it wasn't fair to them to worry about it." But they'd left. "I don't think they meant to disappear. I don't know what happened there." 

"Whereas I know exactly why I was taken in," Stryfe replied in a low, hard voice. "Because I was the Chosen One. Oh, they would have still healed me and helped me get back on my feet, but I wouldn't have been part of them like I am if they didn't think I was the Chosen One. And now..." He smiled bitterly. "It appears I'm not."

Nate looked away from the pain. "Just out of curiosity, how did they recognize you?"

"They knew why Apocalypse had stolen the baby from the Cloisters, what he intended to do with m--you. I suppose they didn't know, somehow, that he took the wrong child. I _was_ recognizable as the High Prince. It wasn't a difficult conclusion to draw."   
"I hate to point this out, but if I hide the metal arm... and, um, get cleaned up a bit...." Nate shrugged, half-closed his eyes, and the metal on his body seemed to vanish, though the scars didn't. "Let's just say looks aren't everything. Not that anybody ever commented before; I didn't get the idea you made a lot of public appearances."

"A boy of the right age and looks, wearing fine clothing, appearing fresh from an attempted possession by Apocalypse, answering to the name of 'Stryfe' even while delirious. I repeat, it wasn't a difficult conclusion to draw. Particularly after I'd... healed, and my powers began to return."

"All right, point taken." Nathan smiled wryly. "That, I couldn't match."

"No... I suppose not...." Stryfe looked at Nathan's left arm, where the metal had so recently been. That kind of control.... He had some idea from Nathan's memories what the virus did to his available power levels. ...Perhaps the Askani would still have some use for him after all.

Nate tried not to be bothered by the scrutiny. Old habits. Hiding it was an old skill, too; Redd had done it until he learned how. He grimaced a bit to himself and stopped trying to. It was supposed to be part of his evidence, wasn't it? Or it had been. And Stryfe had already seen it.

Stryfe looked away as the metal returned to Nathan's skin. Had he decided his demonstration was over, or was it that difficult to keep it supressed? "At any rate...Madame Sanctity was able to conclude from...all available evidence that I was the Askani'Son. So I stayed here and trained after I was healed. Did you have any _other_ questions?"

"Yes, actually."

"Ah." Stryfe waited a moment, then added with what he felt was remarkable patience, "It might be more effective to actually _ask_ them before expecting me to answer. I'm trying _not_ to read your mind."

Nate laughed softly. "I was trying to find a good way to phrase this. I will admit that spending ten years in a library is probably not the best way to practice tact." He shrugged. "What I'm wondering about is that you seem to have changed your mind about who I am _after_ I stopped giving arguments for it, when at the time you didn't seem to be convinced. Why?"

"I'm not an idiot. I've been well educated and trained in logic, and one of the first things we learn is that... something isn't true or false simply because we _want_ it to be."

What is, is, whether you like it or not? "I didn't say you were an idiot," Nathan pointed out mildly. "You still denied I _was_ making sense until after I'd finished, and then suddenly started talking as if I'd persuaded you a few minutes later."

"I was evaluating your arguments based on emotion," Stryfe explained tightly. "When I bothered to look at them with logic, they... made sense. Too much sense to ignore, even though I wanted to. Oath, isn't it enough that I believe you?"

"I wanted to know why."

"The why of any situation is secondary to the situation itself," Stryfe muttered.

"Are you quoting again?"

"Yes."

"Sometimes 'why' is part of the situation," Nathan pointed out thoughtfully, then sighed and hopped back off the log, taking a few steps closer to Stryfe. "There isn't much I can say, is there?"

Stryfe forced himself not to take a step back. Why did all of his emotions have to be so terribly conflicted? He had the definite idea that if Nathan had shown up without any of these arguments about being the real Askani'Son, Stryfe would have quite liked him. Well, once they'd gotten the link sorted out. And he still _wanted_ to like him, for some uknown reason, even as the other man was setting out to take Stryfe's place without even meaning to.

"Haven't you said enough already?" Stryfe finally asked wearily.

Nathan sighed. "Probably," he admitted morosely. Altogether, this was looking like a rather dismal failure. It appeared that the Askani, if persuaded of his authenticity, were going to want him to stay and fill some mysterious role that Stryfe already knew about and had built his life around. He was beginning to have serious doubts of their sanity.

He was glad to know Stryfe was still alive and well, of course. Reasonably well. It was presumably a good thing to have found out about the broken link and healed it -- that sort of thing could hardly have been healthy for either of them, even when they weren't near enough each other for it to be irritating. It made him feel less lonely, too... or it would, if he didn't have the rather depressing feeling that Stryfe wouldn't be all that far out of line to hate him for this.

Oh well.

Stryfe sighed and took up Nathan's abandoned seat on the fallen log. "It's not your fault. You didn't have any idea I was even here, much less the circumstances." He smiled weakly. "You're depressing _me_ with that leakage, okay?"

"Oath! Sorry -- and don't say it." Nathan studied the link for a moment and tried closing it against such "leakage." 

Stryfe watched him for a moment, then nudged him gently. #Like this.# He placed his mental "hands" over Nathan's and showed him how to improve the shield.

#...Thank you.# He'd been slightly worried he was going to damage something. #I never really tried to shield from Redd, and it wasn't a link like this anyway.# 

#I doubt many people have had a link like this....# Stryfe shrugged mentally. #Basic shielding techniques still apply, though. Yours are pretty good for not having had any formal training since you were 13.#

#Thank you, I think.#

#It was a compliment. I didn't have any kind of shield training until after that. I, ah, overcompensated. I've probably read more on shielding techniques than even _you_ have,# he added dryly.

#I wouldn't doubt it. There wasn't enough on the subject in the library to make it _that_ difficult,# Nathan thought back with some amusement, then paused and frowned. #None before that? You had to have figured something out on your own, then, or the background noise would have driven you crazy....#

#It came close a few times.# Stryfe shrugged. #You didn't know me very well then, but it can't have escaped your notice that I wasn't exactly the most well-adjusted child. I picked up enough on my own. Just enough.#

#Oath.# No wonder Stryfe had been that interested in it afterwards. #Out of curiosity, how early _did_ you manifest?#

#As early as I can remember. You?#

#Pretty much. The first year or two is... foggy. Not sure what happened. I think I remember my original parents, but I'm not completely sure.# Nate shrugged. 

#You...remember the First Ones?# 

#Pardon?#

#The First Ones. Scott Summers and Jean Grey. They... are the ancestors of the entire Order. And they were the parents of the Chosen One.# The resentment coming from the last statement was mostly overshadowed by the reverence the first part inspired.

#The ancestors of the entire order? There's a 1700-year genealogical requirement for membership?# He had also been under the distinct impression that En Sabah Nur's name had been chosen in some ancient dialect or other to mean something similar, which was just disturbing. #Stryfe... I'm not trying to be excessively rude here... but I have never been exactly fond of the thought of my parents. What I was always told was that they got rid of me because of the virus. Not that it was exactly unreasonable -- not having or not wanting to devote the resources to deal with it, I mean. It still felt like they didn't want to bother. I admit their living in a much earlier time puts something of a different spin on it, but... still.#

Stryfe blinked, trying to reconcile the Askani teachings about the First Ones--which he'd always paid close attention to, because as he'd told Nathan, a better father than Apocalypse wasn't exactly difficult to find--and the feelings of abandonment he'd absorbed from Nathan's memories. #I... suppose that is understandable.#

#Thank you so much for your permission.#

#That's not what I meant, Nathan! I just -- The technology of the 20th century was laughable. There was no way I -- you could have _survived_ the T-O then. That's why Mother Askani sent a sister back, to save you, and from the records your father wasn't exactly easy to convince. I can understand you felt abandoned, but....# 

Nathan was silent for a long moment, any thoughts on the matter turned over quietly behind his shields. Then he went over and sat back down on the log, beside Stryfe. #You're probably right. No -- you are right; most of the feelings are still based on the assumption they were from this time. And even then, it probably wouldn't have been easy.# He sighed. #Thank you.#

Stryfe blinked, trying to restructure his thoughts after having prepared a lecture about how certain people who had the First Ones as real parents and Slym Dayspring as a foster father really shouldn't complain. #Ah... you're welcome.#

#And in answer to your earlier question, I guess I remember them a little bit. Not much. Scattered impressions, that's pretty much it. I get the vague idea that things were very hectic for a while, but being an infant, I wasn't particularly clear on what was going on and probably couldn't tell you even if I did remember it properly.#

#Still...# Stryfe tried to tone down on the reverence, knowing it would make Nathan uncomfortable, but... The First Ones! His par-- #The Sisters will probably be very interested. Especially the younger ones, who've joined since Mother Askani died.#

Nathan sternly suppressed the urge to groan. #You didn't answer me about the genealogical --#

#That wasn't _literal_,# Stryfe interrupted.

Nathan refrained from asking what it _did_ mean then. For all he knew, the Mother Askani had traced back to them somehow. He hesitated for a moment, sorting through the muted impressions from the link, and then sent, #You know... I don't _want_ your loyalty to me as the Askani'Son, even if they really would base it on birth that way.#

Not to give loyalty to the Askani'Son would mean... not being an Askani. Stryfe had to fight down a surge of panic. That was NOT what Nathan meant, he could tell that. So.... #What _do_ you want, then? Besides a time-travel device.#

Nate winced a bit at Stryfe's initial (and promptly squashed) reaction and tried to explain himself. #From you? I'd... rather we be friends.# Or brothers. That made sense, in a way, didn't it? Someone you didn't necessarily like all the time, but were bound to anyway? 

#Friends.#

#You don't sound very enthusiastic about the idea....# Nathan ventured worriedly.

#No, I... I think if we'd met... another way, we'd already be friends.# ~If you weren't about to steal my life.~ #But... I like you, and I don't, and I'm not entirely sure I want you around, but I don't think I want you to go. We're... connected, whether we really want to be or not. Oath, you'd think we were... brothers.#

#That's the other thing I was thinking. I know it would be asking a lot of you to _like_ me under the circumstances.# 

#It's not like any of this was your fault.#

#So?# ~I'm still the one doing it; you're still the one being hurt by it.~ Nathan sighed. #Actually, I suppose brothers would make sense anyway. It's not like this much resemblance is usually coincidental.#

#There was only one child.#

#Obviously, at some point, there started to be two.# 

Stryfe snorted. #You make it sound so simple.#

#Well, that part's obvious, at least if we leave out the rather peculiar possibility that you don't exist. I'm pretty well convinced you do.#

Stryfe smiled a bit. #Well, or _you_ could be a figment of my imagination... or Aliya showing a truly odd sense of humor.#

Aliya... would be the Askani Stryfe was linked to. Nate got the general impression that she was pretty, ruthless when necessary, and very passionate -- and probably cared too much for Stryfe to come up with a joke that would disturb him that badly. 

At least she'd _better_.

Nathan startled himself a bit with the vehemence of that thought and dragged his mind back into the conversation. #She's the one you linked with, before... did she not notice any of this?# He'd think she would have, if her link with Stryfe bore any resemblance to his.

#We stay very tightly shielded, most of the time. It's... easier that way. And you can flonqing believe that I would shield it the best I could before attacking an unknown telepathically!#

#Good point. Why do you usually shield it that strongly, though? I thought the _point_ of linking -- deliberately, anyway -- to someone was the constant connection.#

#There's still a connection, just not strong enough to read much more than whether she's dead or alive, unless we open it further.#

Nate blinked. #Well, that's... useful, I'm sure....# 

#I may have a link with you, but my link with Aliya is none of your business!# Stryfe snapped, jumping up off the log again.

#Oath! You could have just told me to stop asking, you know. Calm down.#

#I'm perfectly calm. I just... Aliya understands.#

#Well, that's the important part,# Nathan replied placatingly. He was fairly sure of this, although he wasn't quite certain what it was Stryfe meant Aliya understood. Probably it was something he could figure out from the memories he'd seen, if he tried.

Stryfe blew out a long breath. Why was it that every other thing Nathan said irritated him to no end, while the things in the middle just made him like Nathan more? Oath, they really _must_ be brothers!

It didn't exactly take much trying to figure out after all. Nathan winced internally as he realized that Stryfe probably preferred to keep even a permanent psi-link with a close friend -- or lover, he wasn't entirely sure -- under tight control for much the same reason he'd panicked so violently when his attack on Nate resulted in confusion. 

It was probably a remarkable advance in trust to allow the link at all. And what did that mean about the one to a near stranger? Nathan resolved to leave this new link alone as much as possible.

Stryfe leaned against a tree and looked away from Nathan, using more of his mental energy scanning the area than he had been since Nathan arrived. He was still on guard duty, after all. He still had responsibilities, even if not quite the ones he thought.

"Anything I can do to help?" Nathan finally asked softly.

"Sentry duty isn't particularly taxing, barring unusual visitors. I think I've had my quota of those for the day, though, so with luck the rest of my shift will pass quietly. You might want to get some rest while you can. You'll be giving a lot of explanations soon."

This seemed... reasonable. Nathan shrugged and crouched on the log again, closing his eyes and actually going to sleep this time, but not very deeply. He woke up a little almost every time Stryfe happened to move.

Stryfe sighed and leaned more comfortably against his tree. He wished he could get some rest as well -- it was likely going to be a _very_ interesting few days, after Nathan returned to the Cloisters at last. He wasn't quite sure what to make of any of this anymore, but there was one thing, at least, he was sure of.

Whether he wanted one or not, it looked like Stryfe had a brother.

*****


	3. 3

**Double Helix: Twin Destinies  
by Andrea and Persephone  
Chapter 3/4**

Aliya, currently as far off duty as a young Askani ever really got, was rather happily lying in ambush for the Askani'Son, well shielded and well concealed. He should be done with guard duty quite soon, and it was enjoyable to waylay him occasionally. Besides, it kept him on his toes.

On this occasion, however, something seemed to be slightly off. She peered from cover down the path. That was disturbing. Stryfe appeared to have acquired a twin.

Strange. Very strange. She would ask him about it -- shortly. 

This wasn't one of the days Stryfe caught her lurking before she chose to stop. Too distracted, perhaps....

Aliya stepped into the path just ahead of them. The stranger-twin started, very slightly, before controlling himself. #Inattentive today, love?# She'd usually have asked out loud, but usually Stryfe wasn't bringing someone new along with him. "Good afternoon, Askani'Son," she greeted him formally, and reached along the link worriedly when he flinched.

Nathan's first personal impression of the brown-haired woman was a lethality that he nevertheless found curiously appealing. He decided the latter part was probably a preconceived notion from Stryfe. Definitely lethal, though.

"Hello, Aliya," Stryfe replied, trying to conceal the pang her words had caused while sending a brief caress across the link. "We, ah, have a visitor." As if that wasn't obvious.

"I see that," she said neutrally, examining the other man covertly but with interest.

"This is...Nathan Dayspring."

"Ah." #Any relation to the rebel leader you were so fascinated with?# "Can't he talk?"

#His foster son.#

"I was trying to be polite," Nathan said with a smile that was startlingly like Stryfe's. "Stryfe will be the first to tell you that my...unusual upbringing has led to an atrophy of social skills." Nathan's grin widened when Stryfe snorted. "I'm happy to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

Aliya sniffed. "And Stryfe complains about being discussed with other women. Darling, _when_ did he hear a lot about me? This afternoon?" #And what are you upset about?# She leaned against their psi-link, not applying too much pressure but reminding him she loved him and cared when he was upset. As opposed to their initial relationship, where in all honesty she'd been thoroughly disgusted to be assigned to him, no matter how illustrious he was supposed to be.

Nathan looked over at Stryfe, not sure how he wanted to handle this and deciding to let the other man take the lead. #I still won't tell them if you don't want,# he reminded Stryfe softly.

Stryfe took a breath. Might as well get this over with, after all, and see what Aliya thought once she knew. "Nathan came to ask the Sisterhood for...aid in a quest. He thought we would help because he is...the baby Apocalypse infected with the techno-organic virus in the 20th century, who was rescued by an Askani sister." _The Chosen One._ Stryfe didn't need to add that aloud.

Aliya turned this over in her mind for a moment, blinking at them both a few times while she did so. It appeared that Stryfe had evaluated the claim and believed it; the metal on the other man's body did make it... plausible, and she was inclined to trust Stryfe's judgment on the matter. That would presumably be why he was upset. And why she'd flinched when she gave him his title.

This made things... potentially very complicated. Sanctity had _said_ Stryfe was the child they had lost and the man they needed. It seemed rather late to discover she was mistaken, all things considered. And that was leaving aside the question of what Nate's "quest" was supposed to be.

Besides, replacing Stryfe would probably break his heart... but if they had to have someone else, that was what would be done. 

She stepped close and, since he didn't move, lifted herself telekinetically to kiss him and then planted her feet back on the ground and tucked herself under his arm. "He will have to speak to Madame Sanctity, then."

"I...know he will," Stryfe said slowly, holding Aliya against him. "He's been preparing himself for that." He brushed against her mind tentatively. #I...never knew. I would never have lied to you, love.#

#I know. Besides, we told you, not the other way around. It would appear at this point that someone is or has been mistaken. We'll find out.#

#I wanted to believe it was him, but...# Stryfe kissed the top of her head gently, as it was closest and easiest to reach at the moment. Her calm acceptance was a balm to his still confused heart. #Thank you.#

#For what? I'm in love with you, not how, where, or when you were born.#

#I know. I love you too. This has just been...confusing. Bright Lady bless your pragmatism.#

Aliya shrugged mentally. #What is, is.#

#I know.#

#I suppose Sanctity should be informed promptly. I was rather hoping to get you alone for a little while, though. Want me to tell her?#

#I have a feeling that Nathan will be stuck re-telling his story as many times as Madame Sanctity can bear,# Stryfe said with a bit of a smile. #I think we'll have plenty of time. I would like to be alone with you as well.#

#Good.# She squeezed him slightly and disengaged, with a nod to Nate. Where had he spent the last decade, a library? "I will inform Madame Sanctity of your arrival." Not that she actually had to do this in person, but it was considered more formal. 

"Thank you." She seemed to be taking this very calmly and without, Nathan noted with relief, suddenly starting to call him "Askani'Son" or something equally ridiculous. He supposed he'd have to prove his story again. He could feel that Stryfe's emotions were a little calmer now; apparently Aliya was soothing for him. Good.

#Anything I should be warned about?# he asked Stryfe, half-joking and half-serious, as Aliya moved off to speak with her superiors.

#Probably, but I'm not sure what, exactly. You've seen some of my memories of her. Madame Sanctity was the first Askani recruited by the Mother, so she's very old, a little erratic, but very formidable. Though she doesn't really look her age.#

Erratic? That probably didn't bode well. Not like he had much choice now. #Will you be there when I'm...presented, or whatever it is?#

#If she says I should be.# Stryfe considered a moment. #She probably will. I brought you here, so I'm somewhat responsible for you.#

One familiar face, at least. Although why that should concern him _now_, when he'd never been planning on spotting a familiar face here.... #Should be fun.#

#You haven't actually _looked_ at my memories of her, have you.#

#That sounds ominous....#

#Perhaps more so than it should. I was partly joking.#

#But only partly? I'm thinking I should look at these.... # Nathan dug around in his memory for one of the still-confusing, slightly out of place memories he'd gotten from his almost-merge with Stryfe. There she was.... #Yikes.#

Stryfe laughed a little. #Keep that quiet....# He was surprised he could still feel like laughing, under the circumstances, but Nate had provoked it a few times now....

#I grew up in a library, remember? I know how to be quiet!#

#Mentally too. She IS a psi.#

#Luckily, I happen to have just picked up some shielding tips today.#

Stryfe wondered how much trouble he was likely to be in if Sanctity discovered the Askani'Son was using shielding tips he'd gotten from Stryfe to hide things from her. This was interrupted by Aliya's return. "We're all to go see Madame Sanctity in ninety minutes. She recommends we eat first."

"Oh. Good." Nate looked at Aliya a bit nervously. "How much did you tell her to start with? And how did she take it?" He should probably be more subtle, but thanks to Stryfe's memories he felt like she was already a friend. That could be dangerous.

"I informed her that Stryfe had brought back from sentry duty a stranger named Nathan Dayspring who looked much like him and has some proposal to make to the Askani." She shrugged. "She responded as I already told you." 

"Ah. Thank you. I appreciate your hospitality." 

Aliya smiled suddenly. "Well, if Stryfe's judged you should actually be let in, we might as well at least feed you." She supposed they would have to keep an eye on him the entire time. Ah well.

Nathan had a feeling that Aliya's plans for this "ambush" of Stryfe had not included babysitting a new arrival. "Thank you, I appreciate it." #Sorry to ruin your plans for the afternoon, Stryfe,# he added, carefully keeping his expression neutral.

They started off to follow the directive regarding food while Stryfe forced himself not to blush. Nathan just couldn't have been _oblivious_ to that sort of subtext after ten years alone, now could he? #I suppose I could still technically authorize leaving you on your own, or delegate you to someone else, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea.# 

#Don't trust me? Or them?#

#I think I do trust you,# Stryfe said after a moment, #but another part of that is that I also believe your story -- which means I _don't_ really have that authority. And you haven't been officially recognized yet, nor are you exactly familiar with the area or our customs, so it would be irresponsible to leave you on your own.#

#...Oh.# Nathan still didn't comprehend how so MUCH of what Stryfe had taken for granted a day ago--even this morning -- was now being turned around, all because of Nate. #I'm glad that you trust me.# He couldn't think of anything else to say.

#So am I,# Stryfe sent back heavily. #I don't really want to think about how this would go if I couldn't.#

Aliya studied them as they walked, and as they arrived and settled down for food. Cold food, as it was both a warm day and a time generally between meals. Still very good.

It was obvious that they were carrying on a conversation she wasn't privy to. Very well, they could do that. On the other hand, this Nathan might be the real Askani'Son, but he hadn't been confirmed as such by Madame Sanctity and she quite doubted he had her training in shielding techniques -- or how to slip past them. 

She was right, too. 

She didn't pry too much, and made sure to keep her behavior natural, but she tested his shields lightly and then slid sideways through them to see if she could do it, and what would be inside. A well-ordered mind for one relatively untrained, though that wasn't unheard of. No hostility just below the shields; that was... at least somewhat encouraging. 

His psi-signature was almost identical to Stryfe's. That was how she almost -- and would have, were she less familiar with Stryfe's mind -- missed the link.

_Link_? Stryfe had a _link_ with this -- this -- stranger he'd met only today, Askani'Son or not?

But... could this Nathan be using a link to convince Stryfe that he _was_ the real Askani'Son? Aliya's protective instincts flared. #What's this all about?#

Stryfe jumped. Aliya had extricated herself smoothly from Nathan's mind and reached through her _own_ link to Stryfe, keeping the conversation very private and going deep enough to indicate the link to Nathan. 

#What do you mean?# 

She laid a soothing mental hand on his mind. He was nearly always tense about any form of deep communication. #You're psi-linked to this Nathan. Why?# 

Stryfe drew a deep breath. #We found that -- to our mutual confusion -- we had at some point been linked before, but the link had been broken. Badly. We repaired it to give it a chance to heal so that we could get... untangled. I had invaded his mind shortly after challenging him, and between the broken link and the similarity of our psionic signatures, we had some trouble getting separated.#

Aliya nodded, frowning a bit. It seemed to be an accurate account... how would two telepaths become linked without noticing, though? It reminded her more than anything of the twin-links she'd seen before... and it must have formed and broken young, or when they were both incapacitated, or at least one would remember.

Nate eyed them. #Stryfe? Is something wrong?# 

#Aliya wants to know about our link.#

#...So tell her?#

Stryfe smiled slightly. #I am. Patience is a virtue you might wish to cultivate. ...And now I'm apparently beginning to sound like my teachers.#

#Halea, right? I think I've got that memory,# Nate replied with a cross between a grin and a wince. #I imagine she'd be very pleased to hear that.#

#You'll... you'll like Halea, I think. It's a virtue she practices, as well, and she never assumes you know anything you don't have a logical reason to.#

#Oh good.#

Nathan suddenly found himself the target of a very fierce stare from Aliya, and found himself reminded of his initial impression of lethality. #I don't know much about this link of yours yet, and Stryfe seems to trust you. But I warn you, Nathan -- Askani'Son or no, if you hurt him, I will make you regret it.#

Nathan met her eyes levelly, denying the fleeting impulse to smile. #I'm glad to hear that, strange as it may sound. I'm afraid that I have hurt him already without wanting to, but I swear to you that I don't want to do him harm.#

#Then we understand each other.# Aliya held his gaze levelly for another moment, then returned her attention to her food.

#What the flonq was that all about?# Stryfe thought a bit plaintively at them both.

#Just laying out some ground rules. Like she'll force-feed me my teeth if I try to hurt you,# Nathan replied with a little grin.

Stryfe nearly inhaled a mouthful of chewed fruit pulp, barely managed to swallow it, and spent the next several seconds coughing violently and trying not to laugh in between. "Stab your eyes," he finally gasped in protest. "Aliya, did you _say_ that?"

"No, I left it to his imagination," she replied demurely.

"I have a good imagination," Nathan added.

Stryfe spent several moments blinking between the two of them, trying very hard not to laugh. "Oath, I never should have introduced you two."

"I'd have had to ask him who he was, if you hadn't answered," Aliya pointed out sensibly. "He might even have spoken at some point."

"I was just trying to be polite," Nathan told her, "since you obviously weren't planning on _me_ being there when you came."

"Well, no, but I knew you were there by the time I greeted you both."

"I spent much of the past several years in a library. By myself. I got used to not talking."

Aliya blinked at him. "That was my guess, actually, but I thought I was joking at the time."

"Well, you _were_ still joking. It just happened to be true." Nathan shrugged. "That's mostly where I learned about the Askani, what little I knew." He eyed Stryfe sideways. He knew a lot more about them now.

She raised an eyebrow. "Interesting library."

"Well, my unit was technically Askani, but latecomers before the massacre. And it was not something they publicized. The library had what I suppose were the official records."

So the rebel leader Dayspring Stryfe so admired had actually been Askani? _That_ bore investigating. "So you and your unit lived in this library? How did you end up there? There aren't very many still in existence."

"Ah, no." Nathan took a deep breath. "You'll hear this again soon, I suppose, but... we were there when Apocalypse tried to take over Stryfe." He kept his voice pitched low, so it wouldn't carry far past their small group. "Afterwards... well, we weren't the only rebels who tried to get in, and maybe the rest of the palace sensed it wasn't a very stable time, but there was fighting in the building -- some people tried to get to where we were, I don't know exactly who, and Ch'vayre told me to take Stryfe and get out through an old teleporter whose presets hadn't been used in a long time."

He shrugged. "But we didn't go at the same time, and I guess it got changed because we wound up different places. You Askani found Stryfe; I landed in a library."

Aliya blinked several times to process this new information, absently sending soothing thoughts down her link to Stryfe. "That could explain the... confusion, between you, if you _both_ were supposed to come here and you were lost instead...."

He hadn't mentioned his unit, either.

"I don't know about _supposed_ to. Ch'vayre put in the first settings. I wouldn't think _he_ knew there were Askani on the other end of it!"

Aliya was silent for a long moment, then sent to them both, #This is little known: Ch'vayre was Askani once. Apocalypse caught him in another century and... turned him.#

#_Ch'vayre_ was Askani and you've never mentioned this before?# Stryfe asked incredulously.

#It never seemed relevant before.#

#It would have seemed relevant to _me_,# Stryfe pointed out.

#Why? It was another lifetime, and you have had no contact with him since. It wasn't relevant to the Askani'Son's mission.#

Nathan winced. Stryfe paused, then replied tightly, #I suppose it can still be relevant to _me_, then.#

Aliya sighed and reached to put her hand on his. #Stryfe, I didn't think about telling you and decide to keep it secret. It is, as I said, little known, and it rarely comes to mind. It was something I knew about him -- although not until after you first told me about him, actually -- but more background than anything else. I was told it should not be brought up unless it had direct and important bearing on a matter at hand. He had mostly forgotten those days while he was Apocalypse's, or so I assumed.#

#Until he apparently remembered enough to send us there....# Nathan added quietly. Well, that was something to think about.

#Apparently,# Stryfe said brusquely, returning his attention to his food.

Aliya shrugged. #And then again he may not have known what was at the site he chose. The site where I found Stryfe was not too near the new Cloisters, and we had not been there for a very long time. Ch'vayre may or may not have been aware at some point that we could be found in that vicinity.#

#What else is near there?# Nathan asked suddenly. #That might have been of interest to Apocalypse. I saw there was ore-mining at one point, some kilometers off, but only a small lode, and something else about the nearby flora, but that wasn't very specific.#

Aliya shrugged. #As far as I know, that's about it. There are some fairly hardy edible plants in the area, but I can't imagine him having a great interest in cooking. Did he even have to eat anymore?# 

#No, but he enjoyed it on occasion. Well, as much as he enjoyed anything,# Stryfe answered. #I don't know why he would've found it interesting, but as you said, Aliya, it's hardly relevant. Apocalypse is dead, and if Ch'vayre was going to come after it or either of us, he would have done so long ago.#

There was nothing really to do regarding that comment but agree, and it seemed to take both far too long and too short a time before they had to go before Madame Sanctity. Nathan, a little reluctantly, reverted at Stryfe's insistence to the explanation he'd originally planned, with only slight modifications, mostly relating to _not_ associating his plan too strongly with Apocalypse. After a lengthy questioning of all three of them -- which struck Nathan as a bit unfair to Aliya, as she'd come into the situation a bit late, but she didn't complain -- Stryfe and Aliya were dismissed and several of the elder Askani summoned for discussion. This required Nathan to start all over. He predicted that if he should be found sufficiently interesting, an even larger or at least different group would require an explanation of him, and so on until everyone had heard it enough times to be bored.

Stryfe, meanwhile, was spending his time alternately relieved that he had escaped Madame Sanctity after such little questioning and extremely tense at the thought of what Nathan was even now revealing to the Sisters. ~My life will be decided as a result of this conference,~ he thought morosely, ~but I cannot even be there because that is only incidental to the _real_ issue!~

At least Aliya was still with him. She had traded with a friend to get out of chores for the evening, and her warm weight leaning against his chest and side was about as comforting as anything could be at the moment. She was keeping the link almost entirely open on her side, too, and her mind was just as warm. Stryfe wasn't sure why he was so cold. Fear and inaction, he supposed. He sighed and leaned his head down to rest against hers. "I don't think it's going well," he murmured softly.

"What makes you say that?"

"He's getting so exasperated.... I think this is his third time to repeat it all."

"Hmm. Well, I've been informed I'm supposed to attend a session later and probably at least one more after that -- and bring you to that one -- so he'd better hold his patience a little longer." 

"Wait a minute. Why are you going and I'm not?"

"I'm not sure." Aliya's mouth quirked wryly as she looked up at him. "I imagine several of the other Sisters will be saying 'teacher's pet,' though, and I'm not sure they're wrong." She _was_ one of Sanctity's favorites, perhaps _the_ favorite. Aside from Stryfe, that is.

Or perhaps that should be aside from the Askani'Son. Aliya wasn't entirely sure _where_ Stryfe was going to end up if Nathan's story was accepted, and wasn't sure how she felt about any of the possibilities. She knew it would break his heart to be cast aside in Nathan's favor, and her heart would break for him, yet how could they ignore the prophesies that had led them to giving Stryfe a place of honor to begin with. She sighed and leaned her head back down. It was all so confusing.

"You deserve to be honored," Stryfe said simply, wrapping a strand of her hair around his fingers. "You are wiser and stronger than many. And lovelier, though I doubt that is a consideration," he added with a small smile, kissing her gently.

Aliya laughed. "And you are gold-tongued. Silver's too cold," she added mischievously. "I think it's partly that I started young, though I'm hardly the only Sister practically born to it." She sighed and kissed his cheek this time, then smiled wryly. "You could eavesdrop, of course. You'll be linked to _two_ people there; I don't think it would be difficult."

"I'm getting enough of a brainful from Nathan already, thank you."

"You could shield the link to him."

"I _am_. There's only so much I can shield with it still healing. And Nathan's not as good at shielding."

"Hmp. He'll have to learn." Stryfe hadn't been that skilled at it when he arrived, but he'd been an enthusiastic student. She'd been assigned to work with him on it; she'd been disgusted, and she was still surprised he'd forgiven her for as many times as she'd forced her way through his shields in the course of their practice sessions, given how he tended to react. She wasn't sure he knew she still could. Her training at getting through shields was still being kept deliberately just ahead of his ability -- although it was getting much harder; he could store enough energy for it to be nearly impossible to get through unnoticed or without injury. Oath. Was Madame Sanctity going to make her teach Nathan too? 

"His foster mother was a telepath, she taught him some. And I can't believe I completely missed that she was a mutant too." Thinking about the Daysprings as Nathan's parents was much easier than thinking of his _other_ parents. "...Do you know he actually has memories of the First Ones? Fuzzy ones, but... there."

Aliya sat up to stare at him. "Bright Lady." She'd taken her battle-name from them, and been teased about egotism and how much she had to live up to. 

"Those weren't any of the ones I shared, but he said he had them and I had no reason to disbelieve. He doesn't even realize..." ~He doesn't even _like_ them that much.~

She settled back down against him. "I suppose he wouldn't." She hesitated. "Aside from the spillover exasperation at having to repeat himself, does having the link open to him... bother you much?"

"It's like something was broken and I never knew it, but now it's fixed and I...can't imagine losing it again. Even shielding it off too much feels...wrong."

~But keeping your link to me closed almost all the time feels right?~ Aliya partitioned the hurt in her mind away from the link. "I suppose that's just as well while it finishes healing, anyway." 

"Yes, just as well... I still don't know how we could've formed _and_ broken the link like it was without either of us knowing anything about it."

"You would have to have both been either incapacitated or extremely young."

"Yes... Aliya, is something wrong? You're... closing up on me."

Caught. Blast it all. She hadn't closed the link, but he'd caught the boundary anyway.... "It was... surprising to have you say that shielding your link to Nathan tightly feels wrong," she said neutrally.

"...While I still shield ours," he finished for her. "I thought you understood why I _have_ to..."

Aliya sighed. "I understand why you aren't comfortable with leaving it open much of the time. You've told me... and I know that you didn't like to." She kept her head down on his chest, not looking up to meet his eyes. "At least... I thought I understood. If you're more comfortable leaving a link open with him, as I said it's probably just as well for now, but perhaps I don't understand as well as I thought."

"I -- that's not -- It's... not the same," he finished lamely, knowing that he'd hurt her and totally at a loss to explain WHAT the difference was. "It may just be because of the way it was broken, and is still healing. It might be a... survival instinct, not to close it off entirely until it's fully healed."

That was a pathetic excuse, and he knew it.

"I'm not saying you _should_ close it; you're quite right not to. It's only...." She sighed. "You were troubled, when you said I was 'closing off' on you. You do that all the time."

"But you don't," Stryfe said very softly. "I've come to depend on that. I -- I never meant to hurt you."

That wasn't perfectly accurate; she shielded from her end as well, when he wanted. She was nearly always ready to open the link more, though. "I know you didn't." 

"Aliya, my love... I didn't _want_ this link with Nathan in the first place. I don't know why it's there, or how, or even _when_. I would never have chosen to share my mind with him like this. You... I wanted in my mind, with me, even with the limits I had to put on it."

"I know. I understand. It still feels as though... you trust him more."

"I've seen his mind. I've been inside it, _part_ of it, to an extent I didn't even think was possible. Not and still be able to separate into two minds again. I could _never_ have done that kind of merge with anyone voluntarily, and yet...it leaves a mark. It's not a matter of trusting him more, love. It's more... not having anything left to bother trusting _about_."

"I didn't say I was reacting logically, either," Aliya murmured, then sighed. Again. "I wonder if it also has anything to do with the role he described in kicking Apocalypse _out_ of your mind...."

"I still don't remember that. I can see it from _his_ side now, but... still not mine." That still bothered him. Why should he be able to remember the encounter with Apocalypse in such vivid detail, and not even a fuzzy glimpse of Nathan, or any of the Daysprings?

"I think your mind shut down at some point," Aliya murmured. "You _were_ unconscious when I found you, after all, and Nathan does not seem to have been under the impression you were fully lucid at any point when he saw you."

"That shouldn't matter. I should still _remember_ it... I know, I know -- what is, is. Still... I apparently met Slym Dayspring once, at least."

"Most people do not remember what happens when they're unconscious, even telepaths. And semiconsciousness is a gray area." She braced her hand on his shoulder and sat up again to kiss him. It was still... disappointing that he would continue to shut her out, but it was something she'd made up her mind to live with.

"Yes, but I'm not most telepaths," he teased, kissing her back and repeating their old joke. "I'm the -- Never mind. When's this Council session you get to go to that I have to miss?"

Aliya put her arms around him tightly. ~I'm the Askani'Son,~ he'd almost said, but apparently he wasn't. "An hour from now."

Stryfe held her against him tightly for a moment before managing a chuckle that _almost_ sounded amused. "I'm not sure if Nathan's going to make it that long."

"Well, if the Council sessions do him in, he certainly can't take your place." 

"Given what little I know of him, I doubt the Council sessions will do him in. I'm just not sure if the _Council_ could handle it." Stryfe paused a moment before adding, "And he doesn't _want_ to take my place. He doesn't want to be the Askani'Son."

Aliya paused for a moment. "He's going to make this as complicated as humanly possible, isn't he?"

"Without a doubt."

*****

"Let me get this straight. I have explained who I am, who I _think_ I am, and what I'm trying to do half a dozen times today if I don't count the partial explanation to Aliya because Stryfe helped." Nathan appeared to be addressing the wall regarding this topic, then turned to the two individuals mentioned. "And we're going to do it all over again tomorrow?"

An actual giggle escaped Aliya. "Not _quite_ the same thing. I think everyone's questioned you enough times to be satisfied nothing crucial is being left out for the moment. There will be debates." 

Nathan sighed. "That, at least, makes sense."

"You say that _now_; wait until you have to _listen_ to them," Stryfe muttered darkly. 

"As a concept it makes sense. That reminds me, don't you ever argue with them? They seem to find it very strange that I'm not inclined to cooperate automatically with everything they say."

"Why would I argue with them?"

Nathan gave him a startled look. "Ah... don't they ever suggest anything you disagree with?"

"Well...yes, on occasion."

"Then... don't you argue?"

"No."

Nathan looked at Aliya, who seemed an unlikely source of help. "Well, why _not_?"

"I let wiser heads prevail. I'll present my opinions, of course, but the Askani'Son follows the wishes of the Council." #And when living with women, Nathan,# Stryfe added on a _very_ tight band, #it is generally better to let them think they are getting their way instead of wasting all your time arguing about it.#

"I," Nathan informed him, "am not a _pet_."

"No, you're apparently the Askani'Son," Aliya informed him tartly. "And the Council leads the Askani."

"By the nose?"

"By wisdom and authority."

"Some of their so-called wisdom and authority is flonqing idiotic," Nathan said bluntly. "I'm not staying."

"You have to."

"I do not."

"You're the Askani'Son."

"You have one."

"Yes. You," Stryfe said, gritting his teeth.

"I don't want to be any flonqing Chosen One! You seem to be doing a great job, so keep at it and let me get on with MY mission."

"YOU don't get a choice about it!"

"Did I mention idiotic?"

"Several times. Just don't mention that to the Council," Aliya replied. "_You're_ the one who came to _us_, you know."

"Yes. What disturbs me is the impression that you not only expect me to stay and cooperate, but are fully prepared to claim me as your anointed one by force," he replied dryly. "I was under the impression that if the workings of fate didn't bring someone to his destiny without it being forced by the people depending on it, he wasn't really the one destined." 

"We ARE the workings of fate," Aliya snapped.

"You're _people_, the same as anyone else, and I've yet to see any evidence to the contrary! Which means that if you have to force me to take up this so-called destiny, it's not really mine. You've already GOT your Chosen One, so stop trying to drag me into it."

"Stop it. Both of you." Stryfe was startled at himself the next second for saying it, but being psi-linked to both sides of the argument had been giving him the uneasy feeling that his mind was going to hum itself apart. For a wonder, they both stopped.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked, frowning in concern and trying to shield the link as much as he could. He hadn't been _trying_ to give Stryfe a headache...Of course, Aliya hadn't done much better, apparently.

"I'm fine," Stryfe replied, a shade too quickly. "You two were just becoming... a little too intense." He sighed and let himself rub his temples. "It's becoming obvious you were the one born for this, Nathan."

"We can't force you into it, though," Aliya admitted quietly. "Strike that. We could. But if you were broken for a mind-controlled puppet, I fail to see what the point would be of its having to be you."

"I don't know what I was born for, and right now I don't really care. I have a purpose that _I_ care about. I'm not going to give that up just to give you a little puppet. _I don't want the flonqing job._"

"And according to you they already have a puppet, is that it?" Stryfe snapped.

Nathan eyed him coolly. "Well, _I'm_ not the one who said it...."

"You might as well have. Just because I don't argue with every word the Council says out of sheer contrariness doesn't make me a _puppet_, Nathan! Give me some credit for having learned the best ways to accomplish things around here; I've been here a bit longer than you have."

"I'm not arguing out of sheer contrariness; I'm trying to explain that I have other things to do than devote my life to them, which frankly would defeat the purpose I came here for _anyway_."

Aliya stood up suddenly. "I've been called. Don't kill each other while I'm gone."

"I wouldn't be that lucky," Nathan and Stryfe growled in chorus as she walked out.

Her voice floated back to them. "And don't just wait until I get back, either!"

"Hmph." Stryfe rubbed his temple, trying not to be glad that she'd left, but at least his head wasn't trying to pull itself in two anymore. He sat down on a comfortable chair and looked at Nathan earnestly. "Nathan, I realize you don't agree with the Council's method right now. But surely you realize that the goals are important. And you _are_ the Askani'Son - if you don't fulfill the prophecy, no one will."

"The Council has been far too busy asking _me_ questions to answer any of mine, such as why the Mother Askani could speak with authority on the proper course of time. There _is_ no logical reason I could do anything about their goals that you couldn't."

"Because she's the Mother Askani!" Stryfe snapped. "Don't you think I would _love_ to believe that my entire purpose in life for the last ten years hasn't been a mistake? That I could still do what I've been training to? But the only reason anyone thought I could do it in the first place was because they thought I was _you_! Now _you're_ here and it's your flonqing responsibility."

"That," Nathan pointed out with what he considered remarkable restraint, "is not a logical reason!" He flopped down in another seat, catching himself just in time in case it might break upon having metal flung carelessly down on it. "In defense of the Council, however, I will note that while they seem to find my identity fairly convincing, they aren't jumping to conclusions as rapidly as you."

"They'll get there eventually."

"As of the last session, I got the impression they believed I had been the relevant kid. At least after the demonstration with the virus." He wasn't sure he had ever voluntarily embarrassed himself that much in his life. "I could be wrong, of course; as you keep pointing out, you know them much better. It seemed to me, however, that they were preparing to discuss what to do about it."

The exact method and manner they would get rid of him, in other words. "Details, only. I have been publicly acknowledged as the Askani'Son for ten years. They can't just admit that they made a mistake like this. They'll have to discuss how to best reveal it."

Nate sighed. "I still think they should just keep you." He reconsidered that after he said it. Something about the way they talked about their Askani'Son... he wasn't sure he'd wish the job even on someone who wanted it. 

Stryfe shrugged and tried to appear casual. "My only claim to the title was by bloodright. If I'm not who we thought I was..."

"At first. Now you're the one who's lived it." Nate walked over and, a bit hesitantly, put a hand on Stryfe's shoulder. "I know, I know. It's the prophecy. But I'm only so impressed with the Mother Askani, and less with some of her followers. Maybe it's a worthy goal, but... it's not mine, and if they're going to try to drag me into it they could at least try presenting some evidence. Although they haven't actually said anything about that yet."

Stryfe looked away from him. "You realize if you go back in time this timeline will still be here; you won't do it any good. Are we that far beyond hope?" He almost wished he had just sent Nathan on his way after all....

"I doubt it. But there are such possibilities back then... I'd like to try. Maybe not immediately, but I'd like to try."

_Maybe not immediately._ That was good; he didn't really _want_ Nathan to leave... or at least most of the time he didn't. He wanted a chance to get to know this almost-brother of his -- the normal way, not by mixing up memories. "I hope you'll succeed, if it means that much to you. But... this present will still be here, regardless of what you do in the past. It still needs the Askani'Son."

"Maybe. I'm still not sure why -- as I said, the Council hasn't been interested in explaining anything to _me_, which is fair enough since at the moment I'm the one asking for something. Still, I've yet to see why you wouldn't be as good a choice or better."

"Nathan..." Stryfe put his hand over Nathan's and squeezed slightly. "Thank you, but I... am trying very hard to resign myself to the inevitable." ~So I don't do anything embarrassing when the final announcement comes.~ "Just accept it, please."

"Yes, well, I didn't hear anybody argue when I got to the part about disappearing to the twentieth century if I got what I wanted and to look elsewhere if I didn't." Then again, maybe they just wouldn't say anything yet.

"The Council does not argue. It orders."

"I still don't acknowledge being under their jurisdiction." Nate grimaced, then made a slight chopping motion with the other hand. "Never mind. There's not that much point arguing about it with you right now, anyway."

"Not really. What is, is, and what the Council decides will come regardless of our opinions." He looked up at Nathan and smiled wryly. "This time yesterday I actually thought my life was simple, you know."

~If somebody tells you every move to make... not the kind of simplicity I care for, myself.~ "Things change."

Stryfe sighed and moved his hand, standing up. "Nathan, you _are_ aware that physical contact makes telepathy considerably stronger, aren't you? Particularly between persons with a somewhat raw and open link?"

Nathan's mouth quirked. "I wasn't thinking about it. On the other hand, I wasn't sure I shouldn't say that aloud, either."

"I'm aware of your feelings about the Askani. I could hardly be otherwise. I don't share them." Most of them.

"I know. I wouldn't really expect you to."

"So perhaps we should avoid that topic of conversation for the moment?"

"Fine. Any other topic in mind, or do you want me to shut up?" Having been talking what felt like the entire day as it was, Nate wouldn't meet the last with very intense objections.

"Well, I wouldn't have phrased it quite like that, but you _have_ been talking for most of the day. _I'm_ practically hoarse from it. I was thinking you might want something to drink and a place to sleep?"

"Intensely. I can do without either if I have to, though; I keep getting the odd feeling I'm going to be called before session again, either in about two minutes or three hours." Nate grinned. "Obviously I'd make a lousy clairvoyant."

"Hmmm... well, if you prefer, we can wait two minutes before finding you a place to sleep, just to make sure. A three hour nap would still be useful."

"Well, I've had the feeling ever since I last left, so I don't think the two minute part is significant."

"You're right, you WOULD make a lousy clairvoyant."

"See, I told you."

A grin tugged at Stryfe's mouth. "So... am I finding you a place to sleep or not? Because if you want to stand here arguing all night, I can do that as well."

"I suspect then you'd have at least _one_ Askani mad at you," Nate remarked. "I'd appreciate a place to sleep, yes." 

"Well, you see, I was counting on Aliya sneaking up behind you while I had you distracted and clubbing you over the head to let me have some peace and quiet."

"Surely you don't want _her_ to leave you in peace...."

"Knocking you unconscious would give me peace and quiet. Aliya would disturb it, but she's very creative about it, so I don't mind." Stryfe grinned, then turned and added, "Follow me."

*****


	4. 4

**Double Helix: Twin Destinies  
by Andrea and Persephone  
Chapter 4/4**

When Aliya finally got out of the session, she was very quiet and seemed distracted. Stryfe found the link unusually well shielded on her side, and while she opened it at his nudge, there was more of her mind than usual that he couldn't get to. She told him she'd been ordered not to share what the last meeting had been about until later. This wasn't encouraging, but arguing wasn't going to help.

"Later" was what felt like a very long time in coming. Nate, to his surprise, wasn't called anywhere and in frustration unnerved a number of Askani by voluntarily helping with a variety of chores. Stryfe was teasing him over dinner that he was going to cause trouble that way; they'd start expecting it -- when Madame Sanctity's thoughts rang through everyone's mind.

She announced -- apparently to every Askani within secure limits -- that the newcomer whom they had questioned the previous day was indeed the child rescued from the twentieth century at the Mother Askani's orders. The Askani'Son they'd followed for ten years, the Chosen One behind whom a new Clan was to rally, was in fact the clone the Mother had ordered made, fearing the death or capture or incapacitation of the first child. 

Scenes unfolded, drawn from memories and sewn together, of the Mother Askani's orders, the protests made, the young woman assigned to the project and a few of her reports on progress... the assault on the Cloisters that made the halls run with blood like the vessels of a live being, when Apocalypse stole one child and the other was lost. Then further reports, pieced together. The delivery of the Mother Askani's comatose body to one location. The assistance of other, lesser known operatives to a pair of new Clan Askani under orders, they claimed, direct from the Mother, who had predicted their arrival and need, though they'd expected it to be less desperate. 

The Daysprings.

And their child.

Stryfe was having trouble breathing by the time the report had finished. Clone. He was a clone. His life, his mission, everything...were all just copies of another. Bright Lady, how was he supposed to react to that? Nate nudged the link after a moment. #There. Catch that? Chosen Ones, plural. I think they're keeping you.# He was getting a bit worried about Stryfe, but had to admit to being relieved that the phrasing they'd taken from the Mother Askani herself referred to them on equal terms, so presumably the Askani wouldn't get too agitated at the idea of keeping Stryfe. On the other hand, he was having an interesting time keeping his temper under control. What did they think both men -- or infants -- _were_, just tools to their hand?

Stryfe looked up at him, his eyes unnervingly empty for a moment before he blinked and focused on Nathan again. #Yes, I heard.# It was more than he'd hoped for, even in his dreams. He'd been preparing himself for being given, at best, a command within the Askani network. At worst, politely shown the door, but that was an outcome he'd preferred not to consider at all. But this...He was still the Chosen One. Well, not _the_ Chosen One, but at least _a_ Chosen One, and that really should be good enough. Part of him was exulting in the news. 

The other part, though...

Nate eyed him worriedly. Then sent as softly and as privately as he could, using the link for it almost by instinct, #Are you all right?#

#It's more than I'd hoped for.#

#That's not what I asked.#

#I didn't even allow myself to think that I might be still regarded as the Askani'Son at the end of all this. Apparently I am. That should be good enough for anyone.#

Nate sighed and caught Aliya's eye, which took actual prodding since she, too, was looking worriedly at Stryfe. "Aliya," he whispered, trusting the privacy of a low voice more than he did that of a telepathic connection to someone he hadn't linked with, around all these Askani. "Can we get out of here?" 

She gave him a slightly startled look. Well, she was about done, and Stryfe didn't appear likely to be eating any more.... "Good idea." She touched Stryfe's hand and rerouted most of the Sisters who tried to come talk to them with either telepathic notices or simply a forbidding manner. Nate wasn't sure which. She took them both to her room, mostly because it was closer than Stryfe's. And she wasn't sure he'd think to lock the door. 

Stryfe didn't appear to really notice the change of venue, which was worrisome, but he sat down on the edge of the bed to look at them both. "I take it this is what was discussed at the Council session I wasn't privy to yesterday?" he asked Aliya, trying to keep his voice steady.

"Some of it. Some of today's announcement was new to me, and some of it I know they were still gathering information for because that's what they had me doing all morning."

Stryfe nodded once, the movement tightly controlled. "It's more than I was hoping for."

"You said that before," Nate observed.

"It's still true," Stryfe snapped.

"Fine. You're obviously not happy. Maybe Aliya knows why, and maybe you didn't care if the entire cafeteria could see it, but I'm not seeing why." ~And you're shielding so hard it actually hurts. Your right if you want to, I can take it, but it's not working well enough to do anything but confuse me....~

"You don't see _why_? Didn't you HEAR what Madame Sanctity said?"

"Um...that you were still the Chosen One? Well, _a_ Chosen One. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"It's more than I hoped for, and I _said_ that already!"

Aliya sighed and went over to the bed to kiss him. He didn't resist, but he didn't really respond, either, and she set her hands on his shoulders and studied him for a moment. "Talk to me, love."

"I _was_ talking."

"You know what I meant." She tilted her head. "Is it the cloning? I've heard about the woman they had do it. Her birth-clan's practically legendary."

"Hmph. I _am_ legendary. At least...Nathan is. I, apparently, am a copy of a legend. Don't you think that would bother you somewhat?"

"The Mother Askani referred to you both the same."

"And yet somehow _I_ ended up with Apocalypse while _he_ miraculously escaped and ended up with Slym Dayspring!"

"It could have been the other way around," Nate said quietly. "Of course, then you really would be the only one around -- I'm pretty sure he'd have killed me."

"It _wasn't_ the other way around, and he did his level best to kill me as well, if you've forgotten." Stryfe blew out a breath and reminded himself that he wasn't being fair to Nathan, or Aliya, or the Askani for that matter. Mother Askani _had_ referred to them both equally, he should take that at face value and not delve too deeply beneath the surface. But...something was just striking him wrong about the explanation, and he did NOT like being reduced to a mere copy of another person. 

"Well, I meant a bit sooner. Not as if he'd want a host who was turning into metal soup."

Stryfe winced. "I didn't--that's not how I meant it."

"I know it doesn't make it any better for you," Nate said quietly. "You -- obviously you have a survival advantage, though." His mouth quirked irrepressibly. "Old saying I found: At least you've still got your health." 

Stryfe's mouth twitched. "Lucky me."

Aliya aimed a telekinetic swat, too light to be taken as an actual attack but just barely, at Nate, then settled closer to Stryfe. Nate sighed and walked over, not touching either of them or sitting down this time. "Sorry."

"Sorry has no meaning."

Nate took a firm grip on his temper and pushed it out of the way. "All right. I won't joke about it. But -- okay, you're a clone. If nobody noticed up to this point they must've done a good job, right?" There could be problems with the techniques on occasion, especially if accelerated growth came into play, but those were likely to be obvious early on. "What are you worried about, being used? You didn't seem to mind it yesterday."

"That was _not_ the same thing! I follow the Askani because I believe in our mission, and I believe in the Mother's prophecies. If I am destined to lead in a new order, then so be it. I've accepted that. But--being grown in a tank, just in case YOU were killed? What kind of flonqing _destiny_ is that?"

"What kind of flonqing destiny is being born?" Nate shrugged. "I keep telling you, that's too early to pick someone. I still think the whole thing is stupid. But if anything, you have _more_ right to be Askani'Son than I do. You were literally made for it."

Stryfe snorted. "You have an odd way of seeing things, Nathan."

"Let's see. You spent, what, twelve years with Apocalypse and ten with the Askani, and I spent the time with the Daysprings and then in a library. Are you _surprised_ we see things differently?"

"No, not really. You're still odd. Not at all how I expected you to be."

"Remind me to ask you some other time how you _did_ expect me to be."

"Why not now?"

"It doesn't seem to bear that much on the topic at hand."

"Which is?"

"You being upset."

"I am not upset. I was...surprised."

#It's only explanations I can't get through the link right now, Stryfe. I can tell how you're feeling.#

#Have I mentioned lately that I hate this flonqing link?#

#I want to help. But I don't know what I can do.#

#You can't do anything.#

#How do you know if you won't even tell me what's wrong? Maybe I _can_ help. Stryfe, we're...we're part of each other. We're...brothers. Let me help.#

#I'm your CLONE!#

Nate hesitated for a second. #That's a brother.#

#NO IT ISN'T. It's a flonqing _copy_. They made me so they'd still have a Chosen One if you died. Doesn't that bother you at all?#

#Oath, yes. I don't particularly care for the fact that they see us both as tools they can do whatever they want with. I don't particularly like the flonqing virus, either. And I know people look down on clones, I know that's considered normal. I also know there's not a rational basis for it. Less of one even than culling flatscans -- and I grew up among flatscans, if you recall. You're my brother. Whether you like it or not.#

#_Clones_ are used for menial labor and -- harvesting. Which is what I was made for, if on a large scale. They're not _people_.#

#There's one Clan where they're a majority of the population -- or were when the record was made. I'd be willing to bet the woman Aliya was talking about was from there. All right, people exploit clones. Some people will exploit anyone they can, just because they can. Most people will do it if they need to to survive. Or didn't you notice?#

#I noticed.# ~That doesn't mean they're wrong.~

#So do you think nonmutants aren't people, or did the Askani think to shake that out of you?#

#They're people.#

#Well, that's promising,# Nate thought back drily. He realized that at some point Aliya had managed to tap in and was listening. Might be nice if she'd actually _help_....

#And you're still a person,# Aliya put in at last. #Mother Askani thought of you both equally, and I, for one, am not about to argue with her judgment. So now we have two Askani'Sons instead of one. That's all the better. No one's replacing you, Stryfe. Now you just have a brother to help.#

#I'm a clone,# Stryfe thought back, a bit sullenly. Nate and Aliya both sighed at him. He looked slightly taken aback.

#Now you're just being stubborn,# Nathan thought at him firmly.

#He's always like that,# Aliya muttered. 

#Hey!#

#Redd always said I was as stubborn as a schmule,# Nathan added. #So I guess we're alike in that. Honestly, Stryfe, if _we_ don't see anything wrong with it... well, who the flonq cares what _some people_ might think? I've been in your mind, and I know you're as real as I am. So stop being stubborn.#

#I -- are you sure?# 

#Oath. Of course I'm sure. Don't be an idiot.#

Aliya, surprisingly, started to giggle. #As if anyone couldn't tell you two were brothers from the way you insult each other.# They both gave her baleful looks for that. Identical ones. She giggled harder. 

"Don't laugh at me," Stryfe said, a bit peevishly. 

"It's very hard not to sometimes."

"Try," he suggested reasonably. 

"It's also fun." She controlled herself and patted his shoulder. "Come on. I agree with Nate, you're definitely real."

"See?" Nathan looked very pleased with himself. "And if you can't believe _us_, who can you believe?" ~Not the people who've been lying to you and using you half your life.~ He still wasn't sure where to count Aliya in that - she was Askani, and seemed to have a high place, however junior, as she'd been involved in the Council sessions he and Stryfe had been excluded from. But she also loved Stryfe, Nathan could tell that. So where did that put her loyalties?

"I... suppose." Stryfe pushed his boots off his feet and propped his heels up on the bed. He felt horribly drained.... Shouldn't the real Askani'Son be able to deal with something like this better?

"Your confidence in us in overwhelming," Aliya said dryly, curling up beside him to hug him tightly. 

Since when, Stryfe wondered, had Aliya and Nathan formed some sort of minor cabal? He put an arm around her and held tightly. That felt a little better. Nathan smiled a little at Aliya. Whatever else she was up to, she genuinely cared about Stryfe's feelings, at least. That was good. He still wasn't sure how _he_ felt about all of this, but it had been pushed aside in favor of Stryfe's upset. He sighed and cocked his head a little to the side. "So...what happens now?"

Stryfe sighed. "I don't know. I... wasn't at all prepared for this."

"We'll probably try to figure out who's supposed to be doing what," Aliya said wryly. "Nobody else was particularly prepared for your arrival either, Nathan."

"As long as we're on the subject -- sort of," Nathan began, "is there _any_ chance of my managing to time travel this way?" 

Aliya laughed at _him_, this time. "You might have to talk to my sister about that."

"That's why I _came_ here," Nathan said patiently. "I know I have to talk to the Sisters. I was just wondering if you could guess."

"No, I mean my sister, as in family, not the Sisterhood. She's sort of an adjunct Askani, since there aren't enough families involved for a recognizable Clan at the moment. Chronovariant, a trained chronophysician and tech, but not a psi. Her name's Hope."

"Oh." Nathan blushed a little. "Sorry, I misunderstood."

"Obviously," Stryfe put in.

Nathan eyed him. "You're obviously feeling better."

"It wasn't _that_ unreasonable." Aliya grinned. "I don't think I'd mentioned to him that I had relatives."

"I forget what I know and don't know about you, sorry," Nathan explained with a little smile. "I feel like I'm _supposed_ to know you well enough to know if you've got family or not, but I don't."

She raised an eyebrow. "You two _did_ get tangled."

"Well, yeah."

"I told you," Stryfe added uncomfortably.

"You did, yes." Aliya regarded Nathan for a moment, then sighed. "Incidentally, unless you have anything else to do, I should probably warn you that there are a _lot_ of Askani who want to talk to you both about now. Not by orders, just want to. You're going to be swarmed if you leave." 

Stryfe eyed her. "If?"

"Well, I'm not going to kick you out to face them if you're not ready to. I'm not _that_ mean. You can stay here." Her mouth quirked up at one side and she added with a little wink, "Like I didn't already get enough comments about hogging the Askani'Son to myself."

Stryfe blushed faintly. Nate shifted his weight. It sounded as if he was included in the invitation, but he felt distinctly like an intruder. Stryfe hugged Aliya a little tighter. "You're keeping me anyway, right?" Mostly joking.

"Of course I am. Don't be silly."

"You like it when I'm silly." Either there was more to that statement than Nathan realized or Stryfe added something telepathically, because Aliya suddenly blushed as well.

Nathan shifted again, feeling like he was definitely interrupting something. "I think I can handle talking to a few people."

Aliya raised an eyebrow at him, abruptly composed again. "You don't have to go. We can behave, I promise."

"I'm not trying to get in your way..."

"I didn't think you were."

"Not to mention that 'a few people' will likely translate into the entire population of the Cloisters. Or at least anyone who can come up with the most remote excuse to talk to you," Stryfe added. "I think I was lucky I was unconscious when I first arrived."

Nate winced. "Didn't I talk to enough of them already?"

"By your definition, undoubtedly. By _theirs_, not hardly."

"Most of them didn't talk _back_," Aliya added. "Let me guess, you've said more today than you did for about ten years?" 

"Well, maybe for any one of those ten. And it depends on if you count telepathy." 

"It's a wonder you still _can_ talk." 

Nate touched his throat. "Believe me, I think so too. Some advantages to being a desert brat, maybe."

#Should we try to save your throat, then?#

#As far as I can tell, it's fine. I just find this surprising.#

#Maybe the -- Forgive me, but does the T-O extend to your throat?#

#...Part of it.# Nate ordered himself to stop tensing up whenever someone mentioned it. He'd planned to bring it up himself, and had; it wasn't as if he were still seven.

Aliya cocked her head and examined him inquisitively. #Fascinating. I know the medically-talented Sisters are dying to study it. Your control is really impressive.#

#Ah, thank you.# ~I think. Oath.~ That was not a delightful prospect.

"I think you're scaring him, Aliya," Stryfe observed solemnly.

Nathan jumped a little, mostly hiding it. "Of course not."

Stryfe raised an eyebrow. "What, you don't think I can tell?"

Having his own words flung against him. How embarrassing. "No?" he tried hopefully.

"You're not fooling anybody but yourself," Stryfe told him loftily. He took pity after a moment, though. "They aren't really that bad."

"I'm not scared of _them_. I just...." He flexed his left hand rhythmically, unconsciously. "It doesn't matter."

Stryfe's eyes narrowed. "You didn't let _me_ get away with that."

Nathan shrugged. "I've always hidden it. I'm just not really looking forward to everyone...noticing it."

"Forgive my pointing out the obvious again, but you put it on display as part of your evidence."

"I know!"

"You may have had to hide it before," Aliya pointed out logically, "but there's not much point in trying to now. Everyone knows already."

"Yes. I know that."

"Well, then." Aliya didn't say anything more, but her tone definitely indicated that she thought Nathan was just being odd.

Nate sighed and considered sitting down. The only chair in the room was occupied by a mysterious conglomeration of plastic and metal that seemed to be humming quietly to itself, however, so he decided against it. Stryfe eyed him quizzically. #Embarrassed?#

Nate glared at him. #How did you ever guess?#

#Well, I seem to have found myself linked to some odd newcomer and feeling entirely too much of his emotions for either of our comfort. Since you seem to be the only odd newcomer around, I would guess it's _your_ embarrassment I'm feeling.#

Nathan wanted to snarl, but supposed it probably wouldn't be fair. #Stab your eyes. Drop it.#

#There's nothing to be embarrassed about, you know.#

Yes, there was. #I already admitted it was irrational.#

#As irrational as my being upset at being a clone? You wouldn't just ignore that when _I_ wanted you to.#

#You were trying to claim you weren't a person.#

#Well... that's how it felt. You didn't understand it, I don't understand this. Why be embarrassed? You have amazing control over it.#

#I've learned.# What was he supposed to say? #Obviously, however, I haven't managed to get rid of it. It didn't really try to kill me much until I was thirteen, but I was at least a little sick a lot of the time when I was a kid. Best was when people assumed it was prosthetics, and even then....# He shrugged.

#The assembled minds of the Askani Order apparently weren't able to figure out a way to get rid of it either, so I wouldn't consider that an insult to your abilities. And as Aliya said, everyone _here_ knows already, so what is the point of being embarrassed about it?#

#Why would I be embarrassed if they _didn't_ know?#

#You seemed to be upset by people who saw it when you were a child and didn't know what it was. Everyone here does. Oath, it's hardly _your_ fault, Nathan. Blame Apocalypse.#

#Forget it.# There wasn't much point envying Stryfe the unmarred body or lack of pain or unhampered powers, but he still _did_.

#I can't; I'm a telepath.#

#Pretend,# Nathan suggested rather sarcastically.

#As you wish.# 

#When did you turn cooperative?#

#Perhaps I'm lulling you into a false sense of security?#

#I am not reassured.#

#It may have escaped your notice, but we are apparently regarded as _equal_ Askani'Sons. I'm not deferring to you in respect any more,# Stryfe sent with a mental smirk, a teasing note in his voice.

#That's a relief. It was very creepy.#

#No more than it was for me, I promise you.#

#Fair enough.# Nate walked over to lean against the wall. Lousy time for the virus to act up. It rarely got out of hand anymore, not after he'd learned more about it, but he felt vaguely chilled and much tireder than was justified. And his chest ached. Maybe it had gotten annoyed at him for making a show of it earlier -- now he was just being silly.

"Is it cold in here?" Stryfe asked Aliya with a frown, pulling her against him to share body heat. 

She blinked at him. "Not that I've noticed. Why?" Not that she _minded_ being cuddled, but Stryfe didn't exactly chill easily and she certainly wasn't cold, so it seemed an odd question. Nate tried to strengthen the shielding on the link, cursing silently to himself behind it.

"It just feels colder all of a sudden. Ah well." He waved away the concern idly. "Since we're apparently stuck in here until summoned or the new Askani'Son's admirers get bored, what are we going to do?" He rubbed his chest absently.

"I'm sure we can come up with something." She regarded Nathan thoughtfully; he'd need space to sleep, too.... "Stryfe, are you all right?"

"Fine." He smiled at her. "You know I don't like the cold. Maybe you should have the environmental systems checked out in here."

"You have well over twice my body mass, and _I'm_ perfectly comfortable. The environmental systems are fine."

Stryfe muttered something under his breath and turned to a neutral party for verification. "Nathan, do _you_ think it's cold in here?"

Nate wondered rather wildly what he was supposed to say to that. It probably _wasn't_, actually, but either answer was probably going to cause some sort of problem. "I doubt it." That probably wasn't an improvement.

"You doubt you think it's cold?" 

"I doubt it's cold."

"You have a very odd way of expressing things," Stryfe said with a frown. He looked down at his hand, realizing he was rubbing his chest absently, and that it was aching slightly. That was...odd. "Nathan, are _you_ cold?"

Lying to someone you were linked to was probably a lousy idea, especially since Stryfe was the more experienced telepath. "A little."

"By chance, does your chest hurt as well?"

Nathan muttered a curse. "Yes, and most of the rest of the virus, emphasis on the boundaries of the regions it's taken over. Excuse me. I didn't intend to share."

Stryfe blinked. "Oh, I didn't realize...Well, at least I know where it's coming from. Oath, here." He flicked a light blanket from Aliya's bed to wrap around Nate's shoulders.

"Thank you." It was definitely still embarrassing. The blanket didn't really help that much, but he wasn't going to say so. And it was a little better. Or maybe that was that Stryfe had offered it....

Aliya was frowning and looking between the two of them. "Can you two shield at _all_?"

"I've never been psi-linked before, Aliya," Nathan said wearily. "I'm not very good at it yet."

"_Stryfe_ is," she muttered.

"Our link is still... damaged."

#Please don't get into that here, Aliya,# Stryfe sent quietly. #I didn't intend to upset you.#

#I know.#

Nate was regarding them curiously, welcoming almost any distraction as long as it didn't keep him from controlling the virus. "Do I want to know?"

"I doubt you would've asked if you didn't," Stryfe muttered.

"Fine then. What are you two talking about?"

"Psi-links and shielding."

"Great," he muttered. "Any advice?"

~Don't become involved in a psi-link you're oddly opposed to shielding against after managing to convince your girlfriend that shielding your link with _her_ isn't anything personal. And if you do, don't flonqing well admit it to her.~ "Shield better."

"I'm trying." Nathan gritted his teeth. "I have other things on my mind at the moment."

"I noticed." 

"Shut up."

"How juvenile. Aren't you supposed to be the older one?"

Nathan took a deep breath, which didn't really hurt any more than not doing so even though it felt as if it should. He should remember that more often. Then he slammed every shield he could manage into place with nearly as much effort as he'd used at thirteen to separate Stryfe and Apocalypse. Not good for his concentration, but at least it was separate from controlling the virus otherwise.

Stryfe flinched and raised a hand to his temple. "Oath, are you _trying_ to break it again? There's a _reason_ I haven't been shielding very much, you know!"

"It was your idea." It hurt, but not significantly more, and at the moment Nate didn't really care.

"Shield, yes. Not try to cut it off entirely. Stop it."

Nate snarled half-heartedly at him and tried easing back minutely on the shielding. Aliya sat up from Stryfe and watched them both for a moment, then turned to Nathan. "Can we do anything to help?"

~Leave me alone until I get my time machine and get the flonq out of here.~ "You're linked with him too." ~How do you stand it?~ "Do you have any advice?"

"On how to put up with him? Nothing I can think of right now that would help you. I was trying to offer to help with the virus."

"I have it under control."

"Obviously, but it's also clearly causing you discomfort. I thought there might be something we could do."

"I said I have it under control."

"I heard you," she replied irritably. "Let me try this again: I can see you CAN handle it on your own, but is there anything we could do to help?" She shook her head and added under her breath, "Males."

"Females," Stryfe retorted with a wry smile. He added to Nathan, "That means you should just answer her now. Trust me."

"I... I'll be fine."

Aliya actually growled at him. "That is not what I asked you."

"You're stubborn."

"You noticed," Stryfe muttered.

"You hush," Aliya admonished him. "You're just as bad and you know it." She looked expectantly at Nathan.

#I really would answer her, you know. She's not going to leave it alone now.#

#Just because _you_ never stand up to the Askani doesn't mean _I_ won't.#

#This isn't a case of standing up to the Askani. It's a case of having a pointless argument with Aliya over the fact that she's trying to be nice to you.#

#I don't need her help!#

#Which she acknowledged.#

Nathan ground his teeth. #I've been dealing with this flonqing virus every day of my life since I can remember. I don't think someone who met me a day ago is going to help.#

#She offered on my behalf too, in case you didn't notice. And you don't know every technique we do, either.#

#To deal with techno-organics?#

#I was thinking of power-sharing, that sort of thing. Psionic anesthesia... for that matter, I _can_ produce heat without incinerating people.#

#I...didn't think of that.#

~Obviously.~ #We only want to help. You're...my brother, after all.#

#I....# Nate shut his eyes. #Thanks.# "Listen. I... appreciate the offer, but I've had to deal with it on my own before and I expect at some point I will again. I don't really want to depend on outside help, if you know what I mean."

"Well _that's_ a rational argument, at least," Aliya said testily. "You're the Askani'Son. You don't have to be alone if you don't want to be."

"There are no guarantees. I -- it's really nice for someone to offer to help -- Redd used to help -- I just don't want to get used to that when I don't _have_ to have it. But thank you. Both."

"You're welcome." Aliya's expression clearly said that she didn't agree, but wouldn't argue further for now. "If you change your mind, just let us know."

He hesitated. "I really didn't intend to broadcast." He nodded at Stryfe.

Stryfe shrugged. "It's an unusual situation, for both of us. I'm sure you're reading more from me than you'd care to."

~Or than you'd care for me to?~ "Probably." Another pause. "I'm not feverish. I saw you move like you were going to come check my forehead, Aliya." 

She was startled into a laugh. "You can tell that from watching?"

"You move like Redd used to sometimes."

"A very wise woman, obviously," Aliya said with a grin. "It's a logical guess, since you're apparently   
chilled."

There wasn't any reason to be embarrassed... yeah, right. "Not fever. The metal conducts heat better the more trouble it's causing."

"Oh, that makes sense." She eyed him again, lips pursed. He was getting embarrassed again. How...male. Well, she could take a hint. "Tell me about Redd, then. I've heard about Slym endlessly" She shot Stryfe an amused look "but I don't know anything about Redd."

"I am getting really, really worried about how much Stryfe apparently knew about Slym." Nate sighed. "Which is completely pointless now, I realize. Redd was... oath, where do I start... what do you want to know?"

"I was a little worried about it myself. It bordered on obsession." She smiled teasingly at Stryfe before turning back to his brother. "I'd like to hear anything you'd like to tell me. She sounds interesting, from what little you've said. And she was apparently trusted enough by the Mother Askani to have _you_, so..." She shrugged. "Start wherever you want."

Nathan considered and then sat down against the wall, wrapping the blanket a little tighter. "She's... the one who taught me how to shield, and as much as she could about how to control the virus. I had to figure some of it out myself -- and don't start, I was only thirteen when she," he hesitated, "died. I hadn't practiced shielding that much since. The library was quiet more ways than one."

"I imagine it would have been. But...what was _she_ like? Not her powers, her personality. If you don't mind telling me, of course."

He closed his eyes. "Nice. Very... fiery, even though she hid it most of the time. Weird sense of humor sometimes."

"I see where you got it from, then," Stryfe grinned.

"Hah hah. I'm perfectly normal."

"That's so ludicrous I can't even think of a response." Stryfe shook his head. Aliya swatted him lightly. 

"Congratulations. I don't think anyone's managed to come up with anything he couldn't think of a reply to before," Aliya informed Nate with mock-solemnity.

"I'm talented."

"It's part of being a Chosen One, you know," Stryfe told him.

"What, making comments that defy response? Weird duty."

"Well, I meant being talented in general. That too. And most of the duties are weird."

"Really. What are they?" 

Stryfe looked at Aliya, who raised an eyebrow at him, then turned back to Nathan. "I'll tell you later."

"What's that supposed to mean? Can't be something you can't talk about in front of an Askani...."

"No, he just can't _complain_ about them in front of me," Aliya replied.

"Why not?"

"She gets annoyed," Stryfe put in.

"The horror." He should probably not be quite so brusque, but he was cold.

"Some people," Stryfe said, shivering slightly and pulling Aliya a bit closer, "don't like antagonizing others for the fun of it." Another blanket floated over to Nathan.

"Sor-- oh, right, never mind." Nate eyed the blanket wrapping itself around him with wry amusement. "I'm not trying to freeze you, though."

"Did I say you were?"

"No."

"I believe you've exhausted Aliya's supply of blankets, though, so I hope that's enough." ~Since you won't let me help.~

"I'm fine. Last time it acted up was during a snowstorm on my way here, so...."

"Whatever you say. Just letting you know." Stryfe shrugged and went back to trying to leach Aliya's body heat. He grew up in a desert; he didn't _like_ being cold.

Aliya finally laughed softly. "You know, Nate, while I certainly don't mind the results and he won't tell you -- the chill _is_ bothering him." She grinned up at Stryfe, mischievously. "I suppose we could invite him to cuddle as well...."

Stryfe choked. "I know we're supposed to share being the Chosen One now, but I think that's taking it a little too far."

"I didn't suggest anything untoward." She sniffed. "Just a perfectly friendly sharing of body heat. If you'd ever been anywhere remotely cold growing up, you'd know it was a standard thing to do."

"I grew up in a _desert_. Besides, he's the one with all the blankets."

"I _know_ you grew up in a desert. And blankets don't produce heat -- well, those don't."

"Details. I'm sorry if I would rather cuddle with you than my brother."

"Sorry has no meaning, and in this case it's a silly thing to be sorry about anyway." She gave him a look under her eyelashes that might have been either seductive or threatening. "You're the one complaining about being cold."

"So I'm supposed to snuggle up to someone _else_ who's cold?" 

"As he's the one who actually _is_, adding heat to him might actually help. Warming you up isn't going to do a thing. Well, it might be fun, but...."

"I wasn't actually complaining of being cold, either."

"No, just trying to cocoon me in blankets," Nate spoke up wryly, watching the two of them with a wry smile. "I'm fine, really. I didn't mean to let it bleed over. I told you I'm not very good at this."

"Of feeling cold, then. Don't quibble, darling. Nathan, would you mind letting one or both of us do _something_ before I get squashed over here?"

"I thought you didn't mind," Stryfe muttered.

"Well, we _do_ have company."

Nate looked at Stryfe with some interest. "You're blushing." 

"At least that's warm," Stryfe replied, embarrassed.

~Must be nice.~ Nate bit his tongue before he could say that aloud, and hoped he'd shielded it away from the link. 

#That's never stopped you before,# Stryfe replied in some amusement. #Here, try modulating your shield like _this_.# He flashed a shot of his own shield structure, modified to encompass two links. #Don't shield _too_ hard, but you can keep out stray thoughts, at least.#

#I'll try.# Nate sighed and did his best to make his shields cooperate. Maybe he should have gone out and braved the hypothetical Askani horde after all.... 

Stryfe frowned. #I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable.# He sat up and stopped hugging Aliya so closely to him, though he had to repress a shiver. Was Nate this cold ALL the time?

#What?# Nate looked faintly confused, then sighed. #I'm... it's a bit awkward. I seem to be considerably less competent than I'd hoped, for one thing -- although I had no idea I'd wind up psi-linked, either.#

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not quite adept at this either. But I DO have more experience with telepathy in general and psi-links in particular. There's no shame in that."

Another sigh. #...Thank you. I'd apologize for... making you cold, but you'd probably just tell me it had no meaning.# He was trying to make a joke, but couldn't quite hide, mind-to-mind, the acute embarrassment.

#The sentiment is appreciated, even if I'm religiously-incapable of accepting it,# Stryfe replied gravely. Nate looked over at him and noticed he was grinning. #Psi-links are a tricky business, Nate. _Especially_ ours.#

#Apparently.# Maybe he should have accepted the help, since the virus's importunity was affecting Stryfe as well... or was he just rationalizing taking the easy way out?

#Nathan... could I at _least_ try warming you? I won't touch the virus; I understand your reasons. But... warming you isn't such a problem, is it?#

~I'm _that_ annoying?~ Nate hesitated for a long moment. #I... guess not. Thank you.#

#Thank _you_ for letting me.# Stryfe didn't wait for any further invitation -- or for Nathan to change his mind. He simply reached out with his mind and pulled on the same trick he'd used to such disastrous effect as a child. He gently warmed the air surrounding his brother, keeping it far lower-powered than when he'd summarily incinerated his tutors.

The first lungful of heated air came as something of a shock, and after having become accustomed to the cool forest, Nathan nearly choked on it. The second one was less of a surprise, and the heat as it penetrated from outside as well as within his lungs was soothing. The pain at the borders of the virus started to ease, too. #Oath....# 

Stryfe kept up the heat, feeling his own shivers start to ease as the warmth started to penetrate Nate's diseased body. #Better?#

Nate flinched slightly. #Much.#

#Good.#

#Thank you.#

#You're welcome. I... can show you how, if you like? I'm not sure if you'd be able to really concentrate on it if the virus were really acting up, but it might help.#

Nate swallowed his pride. It was, he reflected, rather lumpy. #I'd appreciate that.#

#Here.# Stryfe wordlessly showed him the mental twist to heat the air around him, only cautioning, #Be very careful, though. Too much force and... you could burn.#

#I'm not sure I'd have the _energy_ to overdo it, if the virus were really acting up,# Nate admitted wryly.

#It... really doesn't take that much energy,# Stryfe admitted regretfully.

#Maybe not to YOU....#

Stryfe shrugged mentally.

Nathan sighed. #It... really is helping.#

#I'm glad.#

The amount of help was surprising. Nate didn't _think_ he remembered the virus having been particularly better on hot days, but... it definitely seemed to be settling down.

Aliya looked between them with a raised eyebrow and asked mildly, "Are you finished?"

Nate flushed. "Didn't mean to ignore you."

"You aren't the one I would complain about ignoring me," she replied serenely.

"No, but I'm a guest, so it's rude." 

The Askani'Son is not a guest here."

Nathan heroically repressed a comment on the title and replied mildly, "Maybe not in general, but I'm a guest in your _room_."

"Very well." She inclined her head graciously. "However, I was actually referencing your brother." She raised an eyebrow at Stryfe again. "Not cold anymore, I assume?"

"No." He looked sheepish. 

"Excellent. Although _I_ am feeling a bit... bereft now." She smiled slyly. "Ah well."

Stryfe wrapped his arm more firmly about her again. "Allow me to remedy that."

"Mmm." She snuggled against him and allowed a tiny, if very smug, smile. "Much better."

Nate half-smiled, watching them. It reminded him a little of seeing Slym and Redd together, actually, even if the dynamic was a little different....

"So," Aliya began once she was again comfortably situated, "we now have two Askani'Sons, which is very interesting but a matter for the Council to deal with. However, we also now have... brothers." She looked between Stryfe and Nathan for a moment, though she had to crane her neck to look at Stryfe. "Thoughts?"

They both looked at her, then at one another, with faintly startled expressions. After a long moment, Stryfe admitted, "I don't know what to think."

"Since I'm supposed to be the older one, I guess I can't just sound like a little brother and say 'me too'," Nate offered with a grin.

"Well, you _can_," Aliya said after a moment's deliberation, "but I hope _one_ of you at least remembers how fairly soon...."

They both blinked and said, "Excuse me?" in unison, then looked at each other and blushed faintly.

She laughed, and kissed Stryfe on the chin. "Seriously, though. I would imagine the sudden discovery of a sibling to provoke at least SOME reaction...."

"And suddenly developing a psi-link isn't enough?" Stryfe asked in a jokingly aggrieved tone. "Having my entire existence momentarily thrown in doubt? Being randomly half-frozen? Bright Lady, what _else_ do you want?"

Aliya twisted around to embrace him tightly. "Not _quite_ what I was thinking of.... I know it has been a rough few days for you."

"But good ones," Stryfe assured her -- and Nathan. "I don't know what to DO with him, but I'm glad he's here."

Nate swallowed hard. "That... means a lot."

"Well..." Stryfe smiled wryly. "How many brothers do I _have_?" He paused, frowned, and added, "On second thought, don't answer that."

"I don't _know_ of any others," Nate replied truthfully, with a little grin. Jokes aside, though... it was... warming to have someone want him around, especially considering how much trouble he'd caused for Stryfe. He had thought he'd gotten past caring so much about that sort of thing, alone in the library for years, but apparently... not.

"You didn't _know_ about me, either. Ah well." A wry smile. "Perhaps we'll get some variety and discover a sister next."

"I guess. And hey, at least I knew you _existed_...."

"I... knew you existed. I just didn't know... everything you'd done for me. I... wish I remembered."

Nate shrugged uncomfortably. "I didn't do that much."

"...Maybe it wasn't much to YOU."

Nate winced. "I didn't mean that how it sounded.... It's just that it seems like there should've been more. I'd be dead if Apocalypse had gotten hold of me instead, after all." He realized he was talking to the floor, and looked up at his brother. "You seem to have turned out pretty well despite him, though."

"...Thank you. The Sisters... made sure of that." He shrugged slightly. "I don't see what more you think you should have _done_. You saved my life, and then sent me to the Askani even when... your own world was falling apart." He couldn't imagine having _good_ parents, like Redd and _Slym Dayspring_, and just... losing them like that. However, he wasn't about to say that to Nate.

Nate snorted. "I can't take credit. Ch'vayre said 'Use the teleporter.' He set the coordinates."

"You may be modest all you like, Nathan Dayspring. _I_ know what you did."

"...Not meaning to be rude, but you weren't very conscious at the time."

Stryfe tapped his forehead. "Tangling memories has some benefits, apparently."

"All right, but I remember it _too_...."

And apparently I'm not seeing it through a veil of modestly. Stop arguing, brother."

"No, you're -- I don't know. Never mind." Nate shook his head. "I'm glad you did wind up somewhere with people, though."

"I... wish I'd wound up somewhere with you..." Stryfe said very quietly.

Nate swallowed again. "That would've been good. ...I think if one of us had to end up in the library, though, then -- well, the Askani probably took better care of you than I could've."

Stryfe shrugged. "What is, is."

"Oh, no, don't start that again!" 

"The why of any situation is secondary to the situation itself?" Stryfe suggested with a small grin. "Sorry has no meaning? I'm certain I could find a decent life philosophy for you if you'd give me some time."

"_Please_ stop," Nate implored him, fighting off (mostly) a grin of his own. "You're just getting worse. The first one at least I can't argue with."

"You can't argue with the others either. Well, you _could_, but not correctly. Oath, didn't you say Redd and Slym Dayspring were Askani? They should have taught you better."

"The first one's a tautology. A lot of the time _why_ is a significant part of the situation, and maybe other things are more urgent but you won't get anywhere until you deal with the reasons. And if sorry has no meaning, then why even appreciate the sentiment?"

"The why of any situation is _secondary_ to the situation itself, not meaningless. There are times when the reason is important, but not more important than what is actually happening. And a sense of apology is something that may be appreciated, so long as it is part of something more significant. Simply saying 'sorry' is meaningless. Ensuring that the situation that caused the apology to become necessary never happens again is what matters."

Nate winced. "Must not have meant anything after all, then. I can't guarantee that."

"You won't do so on purpose. You will try not to do so accidentally. I cannot ask for more than that. As I said, I appreciated the sentiment."

Nathan considered the possibility that Stryfe didn't argue with the Askani because it was too exhausting. He'd only spent one day at it, after all. "I'm still not taking any of them to rule my life."

"Of course not. You need all three to be properly annoying to the uninitiated," Stryfe replied blandly. 

"I should probably swat you for that," Aliya said meditatively.

"You were _very_ annoying when I first met you. Luckily, you improved vastly on closer acquaintance."

"You were a little brat. Actually you were a fairly large brat. I should swat you on general principles, not just personal reasons...." She grinned up at him. "But I'm feeling lazy, so perhaps you could persuade me not to."

"Of course I was a brat. And I was _swatted_ quite enough for it, thank you very much." He kissed her quickly and wrapped his arms more comfortably around her. "Stay lazy... for now."

"Hmm. I think I will. This is comfortable."

"Hmph. I hope they've gotten over swatting you, Stryfe," Nate spoke up. "I'd hate to have to protect my little brother instead of getting my time machine."

Stryfe snorted, trying to look offended and losing the expression in a laugh. "They're not going to damage me, Nathan."

"Hmph." Nate crossed his arms and and tried to look at Aliya sternly. "See that they don't."

"I like him intact, thank you."

"I rather prefer myself intact as well," Stryfe added. "Although it's very odd having someone offer to protect me from the Askani...." At least until Nate got his time machine and left. Stryfe was suddenly depressed. Oath, this was ridiculous. He'd only MET Nate yesterday!

Nate looked up again, a little sharply. #Something the matter?# he thought tentatively across the link.

#No. Of course not.#

#It... felt like it.#

A mental shrug. #I'm fine.#

#In other words, 'Shut up, Nate'?#

#If I mean 'shut up, Nate', I will say so. I'm hardly trying to drive you away!#

Nate blinked a few times and lowered the shielding on the link a little bit more, guessing by feel how he should do it. He thought he'd be able to put it back, too. #Drive me away?#

#Yes. No.# Stryfe sighed and settled on, #I'm _not_ trying to. If I mean to tell you to shut up, I will. I won't simply be rude in hopes that you'll shut up and go away.#

#...Actually, I thought you were trying _not_ to be rude.#

#Whatever. I wasn't trying to be rude. I simply meant that I was fine.#

#All right. Not used to this yet, again.#

#Cheer up; you won't have to put up with it for very long. You said if the Askani didn't agree to providing you with a time travel device, you would leave. And if they _do_, you'll definitely leave. I doubt the link will cause us much trouble when you're in the 20th century.#

Nate paused. #I... didn't say I didn't _like_ being linked to you. Even if we weren't planning on it.#

A mental shrug. #I didn't say I didn't like it either. Just that you won't have to worry about "getting used to" it for very long.#

#Well... as long as I'm in this century, I'd think it'd still be there....#

#And even if the Askani _don't_ aid you, you've pledged you won't be in this century much longer.#

Nate looked faintly embarrassed. #It's something of a relative term. I don't know how much time it's going to take me to prepare, all together.#

Well...that was something, at least. #It sounded like you were ready to hop into the nearest time machine and disappear tomorrow, if the Askani offered.#

#Well, if I had to -- but I doubt I'd be able to get much done that way. I have some ideas how to get started, but I got started in _this_ time by reading a lot and coming to see if I could find the Askani. I was expecting at least something of a wait; I couldn't even be sure if they'd have maintained a time machine, or what -- and as I said before, I assumed they'd expect _something_ in return.#

#Ah. ...Good.#

#To which?#

#To...being cautious and taking the time to be prepared.#

#Ah. Well... it seems as if I'd have a better chance that way.#

#Yes. As I said, good.#

Nathan took a deep breath. #I'm... looking forward to having time to get to know you, too.# He hoped.

#...Good. I...am looking forward to that as well.#

#Thanks.# It was... a relief. Nate tried to add a joking note: #Even if I'm interrupting your time with Aliya?#

Stryfe's mouth twitched. #No one ever said having a brother was ALWAYS a good thing.#

#Thanks a lot,# Nate retorted without rancor.

#I doubt Aliya minds, and I _know_ I don't. You... are a very odd fellow, Nathan Dayspring, but I can tell at least that things will not be _boring_ with you around!#

Nate laughed aloud. #Were you suffering from boredom, Askani'Son?#

#Probably not as much as you, Askani'Son,# Stryfe replied, chuckling. #Warrior-librarian.#

Aliya sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I see now why Kiani told us all never to get involved with a twin. You MISS entirely too much!"

Nate looked sheepish. Stryfe just laughed and cuddled her. 

"Hmph. Don't think you'll get out of it THAT easily. What was so funny?"

"I told him he wasn't boring."

"Many things the Askani'Son may be, but _boring_ is certainly not one of them. Either of you."

"Thank you, my love," Stryfe returned with a half-grin.

"And now he thinks he can make up for ignoring me with sweet talk. What a brother you've acquired, Nathan."

"Not arguing with that," Nate replied with a grin.

"I was paying a great deal of attention to you," Stryfe protested. "I just wasn't _conversing_ with you."

"Perhaps you could try including me in the conversation?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thank you," she replied serenely and settled back against him.

Stryfe kissed her hair. "I think... overall... I like it." 

"Like _what_?" 

"Having discovered a brother. Despite the traumatic readjustment of my perceptions of reality."

"My world wasn't readjusted _quite_ so traumatically, but I think I like it too," Nate added, smiling at Stryfe. "Incidentally -- and feel free to tell me to shut up if this is a stupid question, but if they thought you were _me_ when you showed up...why didn't you go by 'Nathan'?"

"I... don't know. A few of them tried to call me that, but it never took."

"You wouldn't respond to anything else when you first arrived," Aliya added, "so we'd gotten so used to calling you Stryfe by the time you were healed that it seemed silly to change." She smiled mischievously over at Nate. "And now I suppose we should be glad we _didn't_."

"One fewer thing to be confused about?"

"Precisely."

"I did remember you from when we were eight, too," Stryfe offered.

"...I was nine. I think."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." Stryfe thought back to the images Sanctity had flashed to them all of the Chosen One's cloning. Nathan had been small, a baby, but not _that_ young. "Well, there goes the twin title. I suppose I'll have to stick with 'brother'."

"I liked twin. There's time travel involved anyway."

"All right, then. You'll still understand why I didn't want to share a name with the impertinent peasant who actually had the nerve to wear my face." Stryfe's mouth twitched. "And 'Stryfe' sounds so much more impressive than 'Nate', don't you think?"

Nate made a show of carefully considering this, then shook his head. "Not really, no."

"Hmph. What do you know? You've been living in a _library_ for ten years."

"That might imply I'd _know_ rather a lot," Nate replied in amusement. "Lots of books, you know."

"But not so much about interactions."

"Nathan's still a perfectly impressive name."

"Just not as much."

"Less hostile."

"Considering where I GOT the name, does that surprise you?"

"Not particularly."

"And speaking of where we obtained our names," Aliya spoke up, leaning forward slightly and trying not to look _too_ eager, "Stryfe told me that you have memories of the First Ones, Nathan."

Nate looked disconcerted. "Not... very many...."

"_Any_ memories are still more than I have," Stryfe murmured.

"I'll share if you want... again. I didn't have a very clear idea what was wrong most of the time, though."

"Even unclear memories of the First Ones will be fascinating to the Askani, Nate," Stryfe said with a very faint smile. "I used to wonder on occasion why I couldn't remember them at all. My earliest memories are at the Palace..."

Nate frowned. "Shouldn't there be some from a _little_ earlier than that?"

Stryfe shrugged. "Whether there should be or not, I don't have them." He'd spent a _great_ deal of time looking.

"That's odd...." Nathan closed his eyes. Actually, if he remembered even fuzzy things from before he was sent through time, why _hadn't_ he ever seemed to remember Stryfe?

"Even a telepath can't remember _everything_. I don't remember...quite a bit, apparently, from the time you and your unit showed up at the Palace until waking up at the Cloisters...days later. While I doubt either of us was injured that badly when we were separated as infants, if that is when the link was broken, it could explain a lack of memories."

"I was thinking that. I wonder if there could be any recovered now that the link's fixed, or if we missed the opportunity...." Nathan didn't open his eyes. "I'm looking for them."

"...Finding anything?"

"I just started."

Stryfe reflected that if any memories WERE there, he should flonqing well have some too, and he might as well look instead of just pestering Nathan about it.

"Might I suggest you try the search together?" Aliya asked mildly. "And let me in on it, if that wouldn't be excessively intimate."

Stryfe shrugged mentally and reached across the link to his brother. #It makes sense to look together. Do you mind including Aliya?#

#...No.# He had some reservations -- he _liked_ Aliya, sure, but even if Stryfe knew her, _he_ had only recently met her. Still....

"...The link is still fairly sore, Aliya. Perhaps we should try it on our own initially, to avoid causing any more damage." He hugged her slightly in apology.

Nate looked a bit startled. "I wouldn't think she'd do any damage."

#No, but you don't really want her included.# "It's still...sore. Having someone not _part_ of the link would be more difficult than just the two of us."

#You know her. You trust her. I'm not expecting it to be a problem.# "She seems to have had more training, though."

#I didn't want to make you uncomfortable.# "Very well, then."

#I'll live.# 

#I would certainly HOPE so!#

Stryfe decided to simply forestall any further discussion on the matter by collecting Aliya up via _their_ link, then ducking down the recently-repaired link to join Nathan. Although the link was healing _far_ more quickly than Stryfe would have predicted, the mental imagery was still of a slightly-inflamed wound, sore to the touch but not overly so.

He examined closely the point where the link was actually broken, a thin red line that still radiated phantom pain. Caught up in it were several tiny...orbs, almost pearls. A slight nudge pushed them free.

They floated seemingly at random towards one side or the other, but he and Nathan still caught hold of one at the same time, and it burst softly like a bubble to let them in.

Warm.

Mostly dark. 

A low, pervasive hum. 

Contentment. There was curiosity, and a bit of confusion, but whenever one of those emotions would start to surge up, a warm welcoming feeling wrapped around from the outside, assuring the new mind that everything would be fine, and it was loved and welcomed, and nothing would be wrong so long as they were...

...together.

Another memory splashed across that one, a little different -- there was light in this one sometimes, and there was pain in it, but the warmth and humming were still there. And the pain wasn't nearly as interesting as watching a new mind, bright in his thoughts even when the lights were gone, and feeling it grow and be happy to sense him. 

#...Bright Lady,# Stryfe whispered, his chest feeling oddly tight. #That's... you. And me. Together.# 

Well, THAT was a brilliant deduction, Askani'Son. Of course it was him and Nathan. This was from THEIR memories. But... it felt so much... warmer than he'd thought. He basked in the feelings from the memories.

Nathan swallowed hard. ~At least now we know we _didn't_ try to kill each other on first meeting....~ He wanted to hug Stryfe, and was feeling oddly and probably futilely protective, and.... #It... is.# He let the remembered and evoked emotions across the link to wrap around his twin's (baby brother's?) mind. 

Stryfe closed his eyes and just curled up in his brother's mind, returning the mental caress with a wordless surge of contentment, welcome, and trust, unconsciously echoing the same response he'd made as an infant, when all the mental and emotional scars were an unknown future. Here, now, regardless of what else had happened or would happen, he just knew he had a brother who would always be there.

Aliya's mind slid quietly back out of the way. She'd done a little subtle guidance, but they hadn't really needed it.... She was glad Stryfe had found this peace, for now, and kept quiet the wish that he could relax into the link to _her_ more often... and the knowledge that Nathan was presumably still planning to leave eventually.

Nathan, as it happened, was feeling very torn about the possibility.

He wouldn't have even _come_ here if not for his self-appointed mission, after all. He and Stryfe presumably would have never met again. _That_ thought sent an illogically icy shiver down his spine. He still _believed_ in what he'd set out to do -- he wanted to go to the 20th century, and explore the possibilities with the emergence of mutations then. Prepare Earth for the eventual arrival of the Celestials.

But....

He felt..._complete_, whole, in a way he KNEW he hadn't felt since Redd and Slym disappeared, and in all honestly couldn't even say he'd felt before then. THIS was right. Being here, with his twin -- this was how it was supposed to be. How could he LEAVE after finding it again?

Stryfe picked up the question; #Please don't,# slipped out before he could stop it, but then he carefully started to withdraw and stop... nesting in his brother's mind. He had no business presuming; he --

#Hey, come back,# Nate thought in dismay. #I'm certainly not going anywhere _now_.#

#But I shouldn't -- You have your mission, and you're going to leave _anyway_...# Would it hurt less, this time?

#Does that mean I can't hug you _now_?# Nate replied a little plaintively. Then, wildly, #Maybe if I helped with your mission first you could come too.#

#...Go WITH you? To the 20th century? But... I can't....# How could he leave this time, the Askani? But... he didn't want to LOSE his twin after he'd just FOUND him again!

#You don't have to. It was just a thought.#

#You could stay HERE. If the Celestials haven't come by now, does it even matter? You don't HAVE to leave. I don't want you to....#

#They still could. I don't think we'd be ready,# Nate thought regretfully. #And... I think the other timeline could be... good. I hope.# He sighed. #I'd miss you now, though.#

#I would miss YOU. You were... always there, then, and then suddenly you weren't and it was WRONG!# His voice was plaintive, and almost panicked at the resurrected memory. #But... my mission here isn't something I can just do and leave. And I owe the Askani so much....#

#I can't just give up before I start, either.# The emotional ties were... he couldn't say unimportant, but they couldn't just take over. Stryfe would be fine without him anyway.

#I know you can't. I just... wish you _could_.# He snarled, hating the stupid self-pitying track his thoughts had taken. #Oath, it's not like you need me anyway! It doesn't matter.#

#I can live without you, and vice versa. That doesn't mean I'm not... glad to have a brother.# 

#I'm glad to have one too.# Though he wished, fiercely and illogically, that Nathan had never even COME here. He would never have known this current... contentment, welcome, but he also would never have to LOSE it!

Nate looked away. #I'd rather have known you, even if our lives are going to have to separate again.#

Nathan would know, Stryfe supposed. He'd already lost his family before, after all, and seemed to have done all right. Stryfe tried to decide if that was a better alternative than having your "family" try to kill you so you could safely hate their memory instead of having to miss them. #I... I just wish it didn't have to be that way.# For once, "what is, is" wasn't helping him much.

#Sometimes it does.# It was so very good to have the link intact again, though, even if he hadn't known about it for most of his life. It was... good to have family again.

#I know, but that doesn't mean I have to LIKE it!#

#I know.# The distress made the link ache, Nate noticed absently. That didn't seem to be why he wanted it to stop, though.

#Oath.# Stryfe shut his eyes and pulled himself back together. He didn't think he'd let himself become this... pointlessly emotional since he'd first _come_ to the Askani! #What is, is. You have your mission, I have mine, and they are incompatible with our staying together. We have at least repaired a psychic hemorrhage and closed a hole in our shields. I am glad to have met you, and getting upset about your leaving is flonqing POINTLESS!#

Nathan stood up and walked over to the bed, though he found himself caught when he got there between looming and sitting on Aliya's bed without invitation, and remained standing a bit awkwardly. The next thought was much more private than the earlier ones. #I know it isn't pleasant, but it's nice to know you'd want me around enough to miss me.#

#Of course I do!#

#I know. I just --#

"Nate, go ahead and sit down," Aliya told him with a trace of amused exasperation. She squeezed Stryfe's hand quietly as she spoke.

Nate obeyed, this time. #I was never quite sure why Slym and Redd _did_.#

#I don't know why they left, but knowing you, I would have to assume that they didn't WANT to. And miss you very much.# If they were still alive.

#I don't think they did want to. At least, I don't think they did it on purpose.# Aliya could hear him again, but that wasn't... too much of a worry. #They just... faded into nothing. I guess they died. I don't know.#

#At least you knew that they... cared for you, before they died.#

Unlike Apocalypse. #I didn't mean to complain.#

Stryfe blinked. #I didn't think you were. I just thought... that would be a comfort.#

#It is....#

#...I'm glad.#

#I... wish you could've known them.#

Stryfe chuckled slightly. #Believe me, I spent most of my childhood wishing that as well.#

Nate sighed and hugged his twin tightly, feeling Aliya's hand gentle on his shoulder as she stretched just a little way past Stryfe. #I miss them. Every day. But... now that I have you again, it... doesn't seem quite so bad. I have a family again.#

Stryfe hugged him back fiercely. #A family.# He liked the way that sounded.

However long it lasted.


End file.
